On Friday, 22 November 2019, an ecumenical prayer service including a commemoration of common baptism was held in the basilica of the Sant’Anselmo Benedictine Abbey in Rome.

The event marked the 20th anniversary of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification signed on Reformation Day 1999 (31 October) by the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church. A facsimile of the document was placed on a lectern in the apse of Sant ̍ Anselmo.

The Joint Declaration was subsequently approved by the World Methodist Council, the World Communion of Reformed Churches and the Anglican Communion.

The prayer service in Sant’Anselmo was conducted following the liturgical order drawn up by the Lutheran World Federation and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity for the international anniversary celebrations.
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Participants at a historic gathering of church leaders from five Christian World Communions have issued a statement recommitting themselves to communicating the biblical message of salvation in new ways to contemporary society. We “wish to make more visible our common witness, in worship and service, on our journey together towards visible unity, walking together, praying together and working together.”
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The five Christian denominations closely associated with the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) are taking part in a private consultation and public events this week to discuss how to take the document further. The JDDJ was originally agreed by the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation in 1999. The significant ecumenical text has been described as resolving the doctrinal dispute at the heart of the Reformation; and has since been adopted or affirmed by the World Communion of Reformed Churches, the World Methodist Council and the Anglican Consultative Council.
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The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) together with the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), as well as the Methodist, the Reformed and the Anglican communion will start a consultation process to discuss spiritual and ecclesial implications of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification.

“We have now five signatories of this ecumenical declaration,” says Kaisamari Hintikka, LWF Assistant General Secretary for Ecumenical Relations. “We feel we are called to ask together what kind of spiritual and ecclesiastical consequences the JDDJ might have for our churches.”
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Most Protestants may not be able to give a precise explanation of the doctrine of justification or, for that matter, of any other central doctrine of the Reformation, but they often have a vague sense that Martin Luther’s protest began with an attack on indulgences. What exactly indulgences were may be a bit foggy for them, but they know indulgences were something bad, very Roman Catholic, and had something to do with working or, worse, buying one’s way into heaven.

Confusion thus abounded when, in the midst of the ecumenical publicity surrounding the Lutheran“Catholic Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification , the papal bull officially announcing the Jubilee Year 2000 gave a significant place to the indulgence attached to the Jubilee. This bull was soon followed by a new edition of the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum , the official handbook of indulgences. (Ironic in light of the ecumenical brouhaha, the Enchiridion includes a new plenary indulgence relating to participation in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.)
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