Pope Leo XIV met Bishops from the Lutheran Church of Norway at the Vatican as they made a pilgrimage to Rome. He appealed to the “common baptism” and the “shared mission” of Catholics and Lutherans and expressed his desire to grow together in the service of peace and justice.
Pope Leo XIV recalled Jesus’ prayer that His disciples may all be one so that the world may believe. “Grounded in our common Baptism and our shared mission in the world,” he said, “I pray that we may always grow together in our service to the promotion of peace and justice.”
The meeting forms part of the ecumenical agenda promoted by Leo XIV, who, a year ago during the Ecumenical Week in Stockholm, stated that the Catholic Church had “fully embraced the ecumenical path” since the Second Vatican Council. The meeting with Leo XIV had arisen at the initiative of the pontifical representative for the Nordic countries, Archbishop Julio Murat.
Bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, president of the Episcopal Conference of the Church of Norway, described the invitation as “a great honour” and highlighted the existing cooperation with the Catholic Church in various fields, including peace work.
The Lutheran bishops made their first study trip abroad in several years during the last week of August. After visiting the Community of Sant‘Egidio in Rome, they travelled to the ecumenical community of Taizé in France. Young adults and ecumenism are the two main topics of the trip centred on ecumenism.
The Pope invited the Bishops to visit the various holy sites associated with the early Christians and martyrs, whose lives continue to offer a source of inspiration to modern Christians. Their example, he said, encourages us also to “give our lives for the glory of God and for the good of our brothers and sisters.”
Pope Leo pointed to the difficult challenges presented by our world’s particularly turbulent period. “There seems to be an increasing animosity among peoples, evident not only in international conflicts and disputes,” he said, “but also within individual countries, as demonstrated by the bitterness that frequently characterizes political and social discourse.”
Christians, too, face the temptation to fall into an attitude of hostility toward those with whom we disagree, he noted. However, said the Pope, we instead need to seek out paths of reconciliation and fraternity.
“Jesus shows us another way, revealing that goodness and charity have the power to disarm,” he said. In visiting Rome, the Lutheran Bishops show their desire to build communion, he said, noting that even small gestures “can inspire and guide us along the path of reconciliation.”
“Let us ask for God’s blessing,” he said, “so that, in God’s infinite goodness and wisdom, He may help us to live ever more truly as brothers and sisters, and thus bear common witness to our Saviour, Our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Source: Vatican News