Catholics, Lutherans End 500-Year Salvation Debate

Putting aside five centuries of differences in theology, Roman Catholic and Lutheran church leaders embraced at a service Sunday where they signed a declaration ending a dispute over salvation that sparked the Protestant Reformation and led to the Thirty Years’ War.

The 700 guests at Augsburg’s Lutheran Church of St. Anna’s and more than 2,000 observers in a tent nearby watched, applauded and hugged as officials from the two bodies stated that both churches believe the salvation of individual Christians is justified by God’s love alone, not by human efforts.

From the Vatican, Pope John Paul II welcomed the signing as a “milestone along a difficult path full of joy, union and communion among Christians.”

During the Augsburg service, Bishop Christian Krause, president of the Lutheran World Federation, also spoke of the agreement’s importance.

“For the first time in centuries, we are walking on common ground together,” Krause said.

Theologian Martin Luther set in motion the Protestant Reformation on the same date 482 years ago, when he nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, protesting the practice of selling indulgences to help believers gain forgiveness for their sins.

The dispute centered on the question of how to get to heaven. Catholics believe that people’s actions can make a difference, whereas Lutherans believe salvation is based on faith alone. After 30 years of consultation among theologians, the two sides announced in June that they would sign the agreement to unite their beliefs on the justification issue.

The agreement doesn’t mean any immediate institutional change for the two churches. And as participants noted Sunday, there are still fundamental areas where the two sides disagree, such as over the Eucharist and the interpretation of the bread and wine used in Holy Communion. But leaders hailed the progress as a sign of hope.

The prayer service and signing ceremony Sunday included representatives of two dozen countries. There were cardinals with purple-sashed black robes, Lutheran pastors with ruffled collars and women in the traditional clothing of their homes in Nigeria, Norway and India.

After prayers and songs of repentance, participants in the service sang hymns during a half-mile procession to St. Anna’s. Along the way, they passed near the spot where Protestant theologians in 1530 read aloud the document that serves as the basis of their church.

Observers broke into applause as the Rev. Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, and Bishop Walter Kasper, secretary of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, hugged each other tightly after signing the declaration.