As the annual Christian Unity week draws to a close, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Assistant General Secretary for Ecumenical Relations, Prof. Dirk Lange is in Rome praying with Pope Francis and representatives of other churches for reconciliation within the Christian world.
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How do we – as Christian world communions – define the goal of visible unity for our churches? Can we find a way forward, walking together towards a shared vision? Or do we “simply fall back and expect the other to look like us?”

Those were key questions posed by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) General Secretary Rev. Anne Burghardt to Anglican bishops and representatives of other Christian world communions gathered at the 15th Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, England.

Under the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, over 650 Anglican leaders, as well as bishops in full communion from across the globe, are meeting from 26 July to 8 August. Reflecting on the theme ‘God’s Church for God’s World: walking, listening and witnessing together’, they are discussing the mission and the priorities of the worldwide communion for the next decade.
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The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) have issued a joint press release announcing the online publication of the report of the Fifth Phase of the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity. The report is entitled Baptism and Growth in Communion. The new document, which has been in preparation for the past seven years, includes important impulses for ongoing theological and ecclesiological discussion and makes “a significant step in proposing a differentiating consensus on baptism.”

The report seeks to find a language for the ecclesial dimensions of growth in communion. It concludes with six commitments setting out a road map for the ongoing dialogue and for the growing cooperation at all levels between Lutherans and Catholics. It highlights particular events over recent years that have contributed to the journey ‘from conflict to communion’, notably the joint commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in Lund, Sweden, the Declaration of Intent endorsing fuller collaboration between the LWF’s World Service arm and the Caritas Internationalis network, as well as local initiatives such as the visit of Pope Francis to the Lutheran parish in Rome in 2015.
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As Christians come together to mark the annual ecumenical Week of Prayer, the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), Bishop Brian Farrell, says Pope Francis’ synodal process could make a “hugely important” contribution to improving relationships between the different churches.
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