VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis met with a group of some five hundred Lutherans from Germany on Monday morning as part of an ecumenical pilgrimage called “better together.” The statue of Luther erected for the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation appeared once again on the stage of the Vatican’s Paul VI hall.
The 500 pilgrims, made up of young Catholics and Lutherans from central Germany, greeted the Pope with a song. They had traveled from Germany to Rome as part of a joined initiative of the office for youth ministry of the Diocese of Magdeburg and the evangelical church of central Germany.
In his address to the pilgrims, the Pope first alluded to the group’s previous visit in October of 2016, to celebrate the anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.
“Some of you had already taken part in the ecumenical pilgrimage ‘with Luther to the Pope’ which took place five years ago,” he said.
Francis then referred to the song sung by the pilgrims to greet him at the beginning of the audience, and explained that singing together is a way to unite.
“At the beginning of this audience, you greeted me with a song. Singing unites,” he said. “In the choir, no one is alone. It is important to listen to others,” he continued, adding that he hoped for the same readiness to hear one another in the church, which he claimed will be brought about by the synodal path.
He invited the pilgrims to “listen to the melody of God” and to “open their hearts” as well as their ears.
“Always turn your ears to the melody of God in your lives,” he said, “this way, from many voices, a single song will be heard. That’s also how we bring about ecumenism, in Germany, and in many other parts of the world.”
Back in 2016, the sight came as a shock to many Catholics because Luther was excommunicated and his theses rejected by Pope Leo X in 1520. The split he caused in Christianity remains one of the most damaging in the Church’s 2,000-year history.
Some Catholics have also criticized Pope Francis for his approach to ecumenism, often citing Pope Pius XI’s encyclical Mortalium Animos which had condemned the ecumenical movement of the 1920s. Others have challenged the synodal path Francis praised in his address to the Lutheran pilgrims, and have accused it of “paving the way towards schism.”
Despite his critics, Francis has continued to promote ecumenism throughout his pontificate.
During his 2016 meeting with the Lutheran pilgrims, Pope Francis told them that “it is not licit” to “convince[non-Christians] of your faith.” In that meeting, the Pope also offered a novel definition of “lukewarm,” which according him is when Christians “are keen to defend Christianity in the West on the one hand but on the other are averse to refugees and other religions.” And just a few weeks before that meeting, Francis had said that it is a “very grave sin against ecumenism” for Catholics to try to convert Orthodox Christians.
The following is a full English translation of the Pope’s address, available here in Italian and German.
Dear friends,
I greet you with joy, all of you who have come on pilgrimage to Rome under the motto “Better together.” Some of you had already taken part in the ecumenical pilgrimage “with Luther to the Pope” which took place five years ago; but today a lot of new faces have joined you. I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to Landesbischof Kramer for the kind words he addressed to me.
At the beginning of this audience, you greeted me with a song. Singing unites. In the choir, no one is alone. It is important to listen to others. This readiness to listen to others, I wish also for the Church. We are learning it anew with the synodal path.
Dear friends, listen also to the melody of God in your lives; the melody that the Lord has composed in your lives. Do not just open your ears, but your hearts also. Who sings with his heart already touches upon the mystery of God, though he may not know it. This mystery is love, the love which finds in Jesus Christ its full, splendid and unique sound.
Always turn your ears to the melody of God in your lives. This way, from many voices, a single song will be heard. That’s also how we bring about ecumenism, in Germany, and in many other parts of the world.
May the Lord bless you and guard you all, you and your families. And please, do not forget to pray for me.