1260 Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale

DECLARATIO

Declaratio una simul acta Catholica-Lutherana occasione Commemorationis Reformationis.*3

"Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself

unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me" ( John 15:4).

With thankful hearts

With this Joint Statement, we express joyful gratitude to God for this

moment of common prayer in the Cathedral of Lund, as we begin the year

commemorating the five hundredth anniversary of the Reformation. Fifty

years of sustained and fruitful ecumenical dialogue between Catholics and

Lutherans have helped us to overcome many differences, and have deepened

our mutual understanding and trust. At the same time, we have drawn

closer to one another through joint service to our neighbours - often in

circumstances of suffering and persecution. Through dialogue and shared

witness we are no longer strangers. Rather, we have learned that what

unites us is greater than what divides us.

Moving from conflict to communion

While we are profoundly thankful for the spiritual and theological gifts

received through the Reformation, we also confess and lament before Christ

that Lutherans and Catholics have wounded the visible unity of the Church.

Theological differences were accompanied by prejudice and conflicts, and

religion was instrumentalized for political ends. Our common faith in Jesus

Christ and our baptism demand of us a daily conversion, by which we cast

off the historical disagreements and conflicts that impede the ministry of

reconciliation. While the past cannot be changed, what is remembered and

how it is remembered can be transformed. We pray for the healing of our

wounds and of the memories that cloud our view of one another. We em-

phatically reject all hatred and violence, past and present, especially that

expressed in the name of religion. Today, we hear God's command to set

* Die 31 Octobris 2016.