Formalized One World Religion Is Close!
Lutherans, Catholics, should seek pardon for past persecutions, Francis says
The Vatican II Modernists think because we have the same baptism we can "call it a day". The formal uniting of all humanity is close...
Again "conscience" wins out...
Francis, in a
visit to Rome's Lutheran church on Sunday, said both sides, Catholics
and Lutherans, should seek forgiveness for past persecutions."There
were terrible times between us. Just think of the persecutions, among
we who have the same baptism. Think of all the people who were burned
alive," he said in improvised comments at the end of a joint prayer
service.
"We have to ask each other forgiveness for this, for the scandal of division," he said.
The
Lutheran Church was born of the rebellion by Martin Luther, who nailed
his 95 theses criticizing the Vatican to the door of a church in
Wittenberg, Germany in 1517.
Rome
condemned Luther as a heretic because the Vatican feared his teaching
undermined the doctrine of the Catholic Church and the authority of the
pope.
The Reformation
that followed split the western Church and sparked wars between
Protestants and Catholics, leaving divisions that live on five centuries
later.
Theological dialogue between Roman Catholic and Lutherans began in the late 1960s after the Second Vatican Council.
But Catholics and Lutherans are still officially not allowed to take communion at each other's services.
The
"pope" took questions from the congregation, including one from a
Lutheran woman married to an Italian man who told him of her pain in not
being able to take communion together in each other's churches.
Saying
"life is bigger than explanations and interpretations," he suggested
that individuals should not be obsessed with complex theological debate
and decide according to their conscience.
"It is a question
that each person must answer for themselves," he said, suggesting that
his own authority was below that of God's in such personal matters.
"There is one baptism, one faith, one Lord, so talk to the Lord and move forward. I dare not, I cannot, say more," he said.
