The Protestant Reformation turns 500 years old

The Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation apologized for the violence and pledged to continue efforts to resolve their differences in a joint statement released Tuesday to mark the 500th anniversary of the start of the Protestant Reformation.

The statement said: "We apologize for our failures, for the things that have offended the Lord, and for the accusations we have made against each other over these 500 years."

The statement also adds: “In parallel, we commit to working together […] to seek a serious consensus to resolve fundamental differences.”

Relations between Catholics and Lutherans, a branch of Protestantism, have indeed been fraught with violence over the past few centuries. On October 31, 1517, the clergyman and theologian Martin Luther published his "95 Theses," the foundational text of the Protestant Reformation, breaking away from the Catholic Church.

Pope Francis, the leader of the world's Catholics, attended a ceremony in the Swedish city of Lund last year, hand in hand with Protestant Christians, marking the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, something that had been unimaginable for centuries.

This is the first time that Lutheran Christians and Catholics have looked at the Protestant Reformation in a universal perspective.

The text of the joint statement of the two major Christian religions also states: "We accept that the past cannot be changed, but the impact of the past on our present can be changed. It seems that the things that unite us are much more than the things that divide us."

The statement also refers to the case of a couple who are Christians of two separate faiths, each of whom wants to perform religious services in their own church, adding that the two faiths are willing to continue interacting with each other.

Source: Euronews