A vision to bring healing to the historical wounds of Christian Disunity
- On June the 25th 1530 the Catholic Church and the Church reformers failed to agree on a common declaration of faith called 'The Augsburg Confession';
- It was written to bring unity to the Reformation and the Catholic Church and to prevent a schism in the Church.
- It failed.
- 493 years later, in 2023, the Catholic Church with the Lutheran World Federation and the Lutheran International Council decided to look together at this ' Augsburg Confession' to see if they can agree on it today.
- If they do, it will be the most significant ecumenical event since the time of the Reformation itself - a virtual healing of the division caused in 1530
Lutheran Theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg in 1980 wrote concerning this possibility:
'If the Magisterium of the Church were to find itself in a position to confirm through the ordinary teaching of the Bishops, or through a papal or conciliar pronouncement this ( Catholicity of the Augsburg Confession), it would be much more than historical interest. It would be an immense contemporary significance ...placing the ecumenical dialogue in an entirely new footing, not only with Lutheran Protestantism but with Protestants as a whole'.
'If the Magisterium of the Church were to find itself in a position to confirm through the ordinary teaching of the Bishops, or through a papal or conciliar pronouncement this ( Catholicity of the Augsburg Confession), it would be much more than historical interest. It would be an immense contemporary significance ...placing the ecumenical dialogue in an entirely new footing, not only with Lutheran Protestantism but with Protestants as a whole'.
the hope of christian reconciliation at 2030
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- Let us pray and support this essential ecumenical task!
- Come Lord Jesus! Come with your Holy Spirit and heal the wounds of our disunity.
Amen! - This website initially launched on June 25 2024, six years before the 500th anniversary.