Subject: Lutherna/Catholic?
Date: Mon, 01 Nov 1999 09:01:54 GMT
From:  (Graeme Hunt)
Newsgroups: aus.religion.christian

Pope hails Churches’ reconciliation 

Pope John Paul has hailed a doctrinal accord between the 
Roman Catholic and Lutheran Churches as a milestone on 
the difficult path towards Christian unity. 

The pontiff, in his traditional Sunday blessing, told the
faithful gathered in St Peter’s Square that it was a 
sign of hope for Europe, where the Protestant-Catholic 
divisions were born. 

The accord was signed on Reformation Sunday by senior 
clerics in the German city of Augsburg. 

It marks a symbolic end to a theological dispute which 
triggered the Protestant Reformation almost five centuries 
ago. 

The agreement does not say the two churches agree on all 
points, but “it does encompass a consensus on basic 
truths of the Doctrine of Justification”, a central 
theological tenet of Christianity. 

Historic stage 

The doctrine was at the heart of the dispute which arose 
when the German priest, Martin Luther, argued that 
redemption came not from doing good works - as the 
Catholic Church allowed - but through faith in Christ. 

His thesis led to a religious revolution which divided 
much of Christian Europe and provoked decades of war. 

What began 400 years ago with Martin Luther, the father
of the Reformation, nailing his 95 theses attacking Rome
to the door of Wittenberg Cathedral, has reached a new
historic stage with the signing of the Joint Declaration
on Justification. 

It lays out the way to salvation from sin. Luther, 
incensed by the Catholic church’s practice of 
selling indulgences for spiritual rewards, argued that 
it comes not from doing good works but through God’s 
grace alone. 

Role of the Pope 

Doctrinal condemnations and mutual hostility followed 
Luther ¿s protest. But Sunday’s signing - achieved 
after 30 years of negotiation - marks a symbolic end 
to all that. 

The Lutheran World Federation, which represents 60
million Christians belonging to the oldest denomination
of Protestantism, is the first to patch things up with
the Vatican. 

Reverend Dr Ishmael Noko, general-secretary of the 
federation, says a totally new atmosphere has been 
created between Lutherans and Catholics. 

“We’re now able to take up some of the very 
difficult questions like the role of the Pope in the 
ecumenical community,” he said. 

BBC religious correspondent Jane Little says the
ultimate goal of both churches is reunion, but that is
still some way off. More than 200 Protestant theologians
have signed a petition criticising this agreement as a
sell out. 

Still, the fact that the two churches are worshipping 
together in Augsburg, where the first attempts to make 
up were made 400 years ago, marks something of a 
milestone in church history. 

Graeme Hunt
 
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~invictus