In a pioneering move, the Diocese of Osnabrück in Germany has become the first Catholic diocese to release official guidelines on the concept of Eucharistic hospitality. The diocese recently published a comprehensive booklet outlining the conditions under which all Christians within the diocese can participate in a Catholic Eucharist or Protestant communion celebration during ecumenically Read more
Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the German bishops’ conference, defended the plan for “ecumenically mindful” reception of Communion in Catholic and Protestant services during Germany’s ecumenical congress May 13-16. The bishop told KNA, Germany’s Catholic news agency, May 11 that the services planned May 15 were not about “cross-denominational Communion in the sense of a general mutual Read more
Pope Francis will join other Christian church leaders tomorrow in Bari, southern Italy. They are gathering for ecumenical reflection and to offer prayers for Christians suffering in the Middle East. Read more
The Vatican has confirmed Pope Francis will join the World Council of Churches 70th anniversary celebrations in June. The gathering will take place in Geneva. The World Council of Churches (WCC) includes 348 member churches across 110 nations. It is the largest umbrella group of Christian denominations in the world. Members include most Eastern Orthodox Read more
244. Commitment to ecumenism responds to the prayer of the Lord Jesus that “they may all be one” (Jn 17:21). The credibility of the Christian message would be much greater if Christians could overcome their divisions and the Church could realize “the fullness of catholicity proper to her in those of her children who, though Read more
Sometimes truth is so hard to stomach that even though it stares you in the face and shouts itself hoarse trying to be heard we remain oblivious to its presence. This may be because the emerging truth demands much of us. The truth I have to face is that the Christian religion I represent has Read more
Pope Benedict and the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the Church of England, on Saturday afternoon gave thanks together on the 1000th anniversary of the Camaldoli monastic community and celebrated Vespers in the church of St Gregory on the Caelian Hill. Williams is the third successive archbishop of Canterbury to visit San Gregorio Read more
Westminster Abbey’s world-famous choir has been invited by the Holy See – through the Maestro of the Cappella Musicale Pontificia “Sistina” – to sing at St Peter’s in Rome. The Choir of Westminster Abbey will sing alongside the Cappella Musicale Pontificia, the Sistine Chapel Choir, at the liturgies of the Solemnity of St Peter and Read more
To mark the 25th anniversary of Assisi meeting with religious leaders, called by Blessed John Paul II in 1986, Pope Benedict XVI has convoked a new gathering in the Italian town Oct. 27. Benedict and representatives of the world’s major religions will make speeches and sign a common commitment to peace when they meet in Assisi Read more
Catholic officials are signalling not to expect any ecumenical breakthroughs when Pope Benedict honours the 16th Century Protestant reformer, Martin Luther, during his state visit to Germany this month. Benedict will use the visit to stress ecumenical cooperation, meet Protestant leaders and tour a monastery in Erfurt where Luther once worked and prayed, and while Read more