Action welcomed with reservations

National Catholic Reporter, July 17, 1998

The Vatican said it welcomed a statement by Lutherans that the 16th-century condemnations of Roman Catholicism by Protestant reformers no longer apply.

However, the Vatican rebuffed a Lutheran affirmation that a consensus on the key doctrine of justification existed between Catholics and Lutherans.

The Vatican and the Geneva-based Lutheran World Federation have been studying a proposed "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification" since 1997. The council of the federation, an international body of 224 Lutheran churches, endorsed the declaration, which included an affirmation consensus on justification and a lifting of the condemnations.

In a June 25 statement, the Vatican said divergences remain "that constitute still an obstacle to agreement between the Catholic church and the Lutheran World Federation on all the fundamental truths concerning justification."

The Lutheran federation responded that it remained committed to adoption of the Joint Declaration. "The necessary time must now be taken to clarify and assess the implications of the Roman Catholic reply," said the Rev. Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the federation.