wfn.org | LWF President Calls for Inter-church Cooperation on Social Issues

[FRANKI@elca.org]

Discussion on Pope as Spokesperson for all Christians is a 'purely German'
Subject

WOLFENBUETTEL, Germany/GENEVA, 20 March 2001 (LWI / epd) - Bishop Dr.
Christian Krause, President of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), has
called for greater collaboration between Protestant and Catholic churches
concerning their position on social and ethical issues.
 
In an interview with Germany's Evangelischer Pressedienst (epd), Krause,
however, described as emotional and misleading the ongoing debate about a
possible role for the Pope as spokesperson for worldwide Christianity. The
LWF president is bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brunswick.

This is the first time that the LWF President has commented on the recent
debate about such a role for the papacy. According to Krause, the discussion
is a "purely German" topic, since Germany is the only country with about as
many Protestants as Catholics in its population. Krause pointed out that the
issue is hardly relevant among the LWF churches outside Europe. The
federation has 131 member churches in 72 countries worldwide. The discussion
was started by Bishop Johannes Friedrich, Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Bavaria. Friedrich had repeatedly expressed the opinion that the Pope as
spokesperson for Christianity would give the church more weight.

The Pope would no longer be the Pope if he were also the spokesperson for
the Protestant churches, said Krause. The LWF president recommended that
ecumenical efforts be continued on the basis of "reconciled diversity". He
said the Vatican had an obligation to "clarify" its controversial statement
Dominus Iesus, and that he sees "something happening" there. In Dominus
Iesus the Vatican had described the Roman Catholic Church as the "one Church
of Christ."

Bishop Dr. Margot KSssmann, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover, speaking
at the synod of the Confederation of Protestant Churches in Lower Saxony,
urged Protestants to stand up self-confidently for their understanding of
the pastoral ministry with regard to that of the Catholic Church: "We do not
have the office of priest in the sense of a consecrated ministry that is set
apart from other ministries in the church," she said.

Friedrich Hauschild, president of the board of the United Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Germany (VELKD), in a discussion on volunteer ministries,
also emphasized that Lutherans believe that it is not only the Pope and
bishops but the entire Christian community that has the mission to proclaim
the Gospel.

(Translated from an epd [Evangelischer Pressedienst] article. All rights
reserved.)

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(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now has 131 member
churches in 72 countries representing over 60.2 million of the nearly 64
million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches
in areas of common interest such as ecumenical relations, theology,
humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various
aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in
Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of the Lutheran
World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted, material presented does
not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units.
Where the dateline of an article contains the notation (LWI), the material
may be freely reproduced with acknowledgement.]

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