Rome’s Lutheran pastor and many in his flock believe Pope Francis has opened the door for intercommunion between Catholics and Lutherans. Pastor Jens Kruse of Rome’s Evangelical Lutheran Church told the National Catholic Register that Lutherans has felt this door was closed “for an eternity”. But last month, during a visit to Pastor Kruse’s church, Read more
A Church of England bishop given the Anglican equivalent of a saint’s feast day was a paedophile, the church has acknowledged. Bishop George Bell of Chichester, who died in 1958, sexually assaulted a child in the 1940s and 1950s. The Church of England has issued a formal apology to the victim, who wishes to remain Read more
A UK archbishop has signalled that the circumstances under which Anglicans can receive Communion at Catholic Masses could be broadened. Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham, who is Catholic co-chair of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) stressed he was expressing a “personal view”. In an interview with the Church of Ireland Gazette, he said Read more
Pope Francis’s approach to ecumenism is setting him apart from his predecessors, says the head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Cardinal Kurt Koch told a German Catholic website that Francis lays more emphasis than Benedict XVI did on strengthening ecumenical relationships through joint prayer, activities and encounters. The reason for this is Read more
Religious leaders risk fuelling extremism by pretending that all faiths are basically the same, the Archbishop of Canterbury has warned. The Telegraph reported Archbishop Justin Welby saying faith leaders seemed desperate to hide behind “bland” and “anaemic” statements about what they have in common. This is instead of facing up to the “profound differences” between Read more
Pope Francis has said the martyrdoms of modern Christians of many denominations will nourish “a new era of ecumenical commitment”. The Pope said this during a meeting with members of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC III) in Rome. The Pope said ecumenism is not a “secondary element” in the life of the Church. Referring Read more
John XXIII at the Opening of Vatican II, the 21st Ecumenical Council: The substance of the ancient doctrine of the deposit of faith is one thing, and the way in which it is presented is another. Further, the Pope said that it is necessary first of all that the Church should never depart from the sacred Read more
An ecumenical service was held at the Centenary Methodist Church in Suva last Sunday to mark the ecumenical contribution of three important church leaders who built a strong foundation of faith in Fiji. Many religious, political and community leaders paid tribute to the tremendous efforts of the late Archbishop Jabez Bryce of the Anglican Church, Read more
The union of Orthodox and Catholic Churches is all but a formality. This is the view of the Vatican Correspondent for NCR after a momentous meeting between Pope Francis and the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I. The pair met on the Feast of St Andrew, at the Church of St Read more
Imagine if the pope were invited to address a summit of Protestant leaders, and used the platform to take a swipe at Italy’s tiny Waldensian Protestant church — complaining that it tries to convert Catholics, and demanding that it shut up about the separation of church and state. Protestants would rightly howl about how crude Read more