Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations

During an ecumenical prayer service at the assembly of the Lutheran World Federation, the Vatican’s chief ecumenist and the federation’s general secretary formally called for a joint reflection on the Augsburg Confession, a fundamental statement of Lutheran faith.

Scholars from different Christian churches who have studied together the New Testament letters of St. Paul are engaging in “courageous and prophetic work,” Pope Francis told them.

In a message to religious and political leaders gathered at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, Pope Francis pleaded with ordinary citizens and governing officials to have the “audacity of peace.”

Catholic and Jewish institutions announced Sept. 7 the discovery of a previously unpublished list of several thousand people, mostly Jews, who were hidden in Catholic convents and monasteries in Rome during the Nazi occupation of the city.

Some 20 Jewish and Christian scholars began a three-month hybrid course in mid-July at the Vatican Library to dig into more than 1,000 years of teachings contained in more than 800 ancient Hebrew manuscripts from the 9th to 16th centuries housed in its collections.

Any book that is considered sacred by its people must be respected out of respect for the human person who holds it sacred, Pope Francis said.