Burying the Bitterness

When Martin Luther laid the cornerstone of the Reformation 456 years ago, the object of his bitterest invective was the Pope. Last week, as part of a continuing ecumenical study on doctrinal problems dividing Lutherans and Roman Catholics, a commission of 13 Catholic and 13 Lutheran theologians issued a remarkable statement. The issue of papal primacy, they said, "need not be a barrier to reconciliation" of the Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches.

The doctrinal discussions, begun in 1965 under the auspices of U.S. Catholic bishops and the three major Lutheran denominations in the U.S., have already reached broad areas of agreement on such thorny issues as the role of the ministry and the significance of the central sacrament of the Eucharist. The latest paper states that "Christ wills for his church a unity [that] must be manifest in the world," and concurs that "a special responsibility for this may be entrusted to one individual minister, under the Gospel." Moreover, it notes, "the Bishop of Rome," whom Catholics already accept in this role, might "in the future function in ways" useful to the broader Christian church.

The agreement posed questions for both communions. It asked Lutherans to consider "the possibility and desirability of the papal ministry... in a larger communion which would include the Lutheran churches." The Catholic Church was asked to consider "the possibility of a reconciliation which would recognize the self-government of Lutheran churches within a communion."

The commission is still studying the most controversial issue of all: papal infallibility. And last week's statement emphasized that for Lutherans, any function of papal primacy must not "subvert Christian freedom." Moreover, none of the theologians' dramatic agreements so far have been translated by either communion into effective action, such as the approval of exchanges in celebrating the Eucharist. The statement suggested a growing impatience for such a move. One of the questions posed for the Catholic Church was whether "in the expectation of a foreseeable reconciliation," it is ready to accept the Lutherans as "sister churches, which are already entitled to some measure of ecclesiastical communion."

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