ELCA News Blog
April 13, 2007
Lutheran President Congratulates Pope on 80th Birthday
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service
Pope Benedict XVI celebrates his 80th birthday on April 16, and the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, sent a letter of congratulations and best wishes. "I pray that your ministry of vision and friendship as Bishop of Rome and primate of the Roman Catholic Church will continue for many years to come," Hanson wrote.
The full text of the letter is attached to a Lutheran World Information news release.
Hanson thanked the pope for greetings he sent to the LWF's 60th anniversary celebration in March and for his reference to the historic Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification that the LWF and Catholic Church signed in 1999. Hanson expressed his hope that future celebrations "will take into account the magnitude of this declaration for our communions today and likewise capture the urgency of our work together tomorrow." Hanson concluded, "I believe Lutherans and Roman Catholics throughout the world are blessed by these relationships and these essential questions, and I thank God for your leadership at this time."
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