Pope Benedict to pray with German Protestants but sees no breakthrough
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(A giant blow-up of a front page of the German Bild newspaper from April 5, 2005, is displayed in central Berlin September 19, 2011. The paper features a front-page story about the election of German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to be Pope Benedict XVI and reads "We Are Pope." /Thomas Peter
Pope Benedicthas said he would pray with German Protestants during a visit this week to the cradle of the European Reformation, but played down expectations of a breakthrough in ecumenical ties.
The pope’s September 22-25 visit to Germany, his native country, has prompted some Protestants to call for more ecumenical measures like joint communions and Catholic recognition of Protestant churches. Liberal Catholics were also hoping to hear talk of reforms such as more tolerance of divorced Catholics.
Benedict will visit Erfurt, one-time home of Martin Luther, whose reform movement split Western Europe’s Christians into Protestants and Catholics 600 years ago.
“In the Augustinian monastery and church where Luther began his path, I will have the opportunity to meet representatives of Germany’s Protestant Church,” Benedict said in a message televised by German broadcaster ARD at the weekend.
“We will pray together, listen to the word of God, think together and discuss,” he said. But he added: “We do not expect any sensations.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the daughter of a Lutheran pastor who grew up in the former communist, officially atheist East Germany, said Christian unity would be a focus of the pope’s visit.
The Pope will encounter indifference and protest in eastern Germany but will also visit the staunchly Catholic Freiburg.
via Pope to pray with Protestants but sees no breakthrough | Reuters.
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