In unusual video, pope speaks of his longing for Christian unity (with Evangelicals)

cns ^ | February 20, 2014 | Cindy Wooden

[NYer]

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In an unusual video message, recorded on an iPhone by a Pentecostal pastor Pope Francis knew in Argentina, the pope says all Christians share blame for their divisions, speaks of his "longing" for their unity and insists that God will bring the miracle of Christian unity to completion.

"Pray to the Lord that he will unite us all," the pope tells a group of Pentecostals meeting in the United States. "Let's move forward, we are brothers; let us give each other that spiritual embrace and allow the Lord to complete the work he has begun. Because this is a miracle; the miracle of unity has begun."

Screen grab of Pope Francis interview shown to a group of Pentecostals in the United States. (CNS photo)

In the video, posted on YouTube and never released by the Vatican, the pope quotes a character from a novel by Alessandro Manzoni; the character says, "'I have never found that the Lord began a miracle without finishing it well.' He will finish well this miracle of unity," the pope added.

The Vatican did not release any details when it announced Jan. 14 that Pope Francis had met with "Anthony Palmer, bishop and international ecumenical officer for the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches," a group that is not affiliated with the Anglican Communion.

The video, which Palmer said he took with his iPhone, begins in English with the pope apologizing that he will have to switch to Italian, although mostly, he said, he would speak from the heart, which is "a more simple, more authentic language."

Addressing Palmer as "my brother, a bishop-brother" and saying they had "been friends for years," the pope offered what he said were greetings "both joyful and full of longing" to participants in a forthcoming meeting of the Kenneth Copeland Ministries, a Pentecostal group that sponsors large prayer gatherings around the world.

The joy, the pope said, comes from knowing that "the Lord is working all over the whole world."

But he said he is full of longing because Christians are still separated, "separated because of sin, our sins."

"Who is at fault?" he asked. "All of us are, we are all sinners. There is only one who is just and that is the Lord."

Pope Francis said he longs for the day when "this separation would end and there would be communion."

"Let's allow our longing to increase so that it propels us to find each other, embrace each other and to praise Jesus Christ as the only Lord of history," the pope said.

The video begins with Palmer telling a Pentecostal gathering about the importance of Christian unity for preaching salvation in Christ to the world.

Palmer said that the Catholic-Protestant divisions have had no reason to exist since the 1999 Catholic-Lutheran Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. The agreement recognized that "by grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works."

"Brothers and sisters, Luther's protest is over," Palmer told his audience. "Is yours?"

"We are not protesting the doctrine of salvation (taught) by the Catholic Church anymore," he said. "We now preach the same Gospel."

The Catholic Church has celebrated the agreement on justification and other ecumenical agreements, while insisting that further progress must be made to resolve other differences before there is full unity and sacramental sharing. Those differences include how different Christians view the sacraments and how they see the role of the papacy.

[Salvavida]

God’s Word is not debatable. You may debate the hermeneutics involved, because that is how doctrine is flushed out.

[Iscool]

Palmer said that the Catholic-Protestant divisions have had no reason to exist since the 1999 Catholic-Lutheran Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. The agreement recognized that "by grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works."

No baptism...No Eucharist...No sacraments...Grace by faith without works...

I don't think the Catholics agreed to this...

[piusv]

Someone please pass the Vatican II false ecumenism barf bag.

[SoFloFreeper]

I love my Catholic friends, but how can we get past the Council of Trent?

AFAIK, that body of Catholic authorities declared all Protestants heretics and that declaration never been rescinded.

Not gonna pick a fight, and we MUST hold hands together against the fascists, but neither can we ignore the gaps in our theological divide. :)

[xone]

Correction: debate begins with God's Word.

No, that's where it ends. If the results of the debate are in conflict with God's Word, either do it over or submit.

[Greetings_Puny_Humans]

Sorry Franky, you can keep your touchy-feely religion to yourself, and I’ll stick with the scripture.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

-— I’d be interested in knowing what the Catholic FReepers think -—

I appreciate the offer and spirit.

Yes, the Joint Declaration should be widely hailed and known.

Sadly, many Catholics are ignorant of their faith, as are many Protestants. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is the standard reference for Catholic doctrine. For the academically inclined, I highly recommend Ludwig Ott’s, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma. It explains the levels of Church teaching.

While I’ve met ignorant Catholics and Protestants, I’ve met great, apparent saints, too, including a Baptist minister who was a foster parent to 20 children.

Regarding Christian unity, we should all pray for it, as Christ commanded.

Regarding the truths of faith and ecumenism, we must not gloss over our differences. This is false ecumenism. OTOH, we should recognize our commonly held beliefs, and work forward from that basis.

[BlatherNaut]

Let's allow our longing to increase so that it propels us to find each other

Even if the rotten fruits of this "longing" are a diminution of the Mother of God and of the Papacy? De-emphasizing Catholic teachings in order to gain the approval of non-Catholics who find Church teachings repugnant smacks of a bait and switch strategy toward ecumenism (unless the ultimate objective actually is to incrementally alter Church teachings in order to promote convergence toward a more generally acceptable pan-Christian creed).

Meanwhile, the scandalous disunity among the shepherds (under the guise of collegiality) is relentlessly ignored.

[.45 Long Colt]

“It is better to be divided by truth than united in error.”

—Dr. Adrian Rogers

Unless and until Rome accepts the biblical gospel, separation from Rome is the only choice for believers. Indeed, it’s demanded by Scripture.

The Reformer’s Separation from Rome
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=101302211954

“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” (Ephesians 5:11)

[Salvation]

**”Brothers and sisters, Luther’s protest is over,” Palmer told his audience. “Is yours?”

**Great line for some posters on FR!

[xone]

Brothers and sisters, Luther’s protest is over Palmer told his audience. “Is yours?”

It isn't, for anyone that understands the objection. Palmer obviously doesn't. The reason the JDDJ isn't being touted, is that it didn't solve or reconcile anything. Catholics and Lib lutherans met, came up with a document, THEN had a Catholic and Protestant theologian write an exegesis of scripture to support it. Catholics and the LLs declared victory and left to laud the 'agreement'.

[Brian Kopp DPM]

[GreyFriar]

Thank you for posting this fantastically excellent report. It is something I’ve had a longing for since I was in my teens.

I had not heard about: “the 1999 Catholic-Lutheran Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. The agreement recognized that “by grace alone, in faith in Christ’s saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works.””

And what I have favored here that we need to unite in our following Jesus, our Savior.

[piusv]

Two words: Mortalium Animos.

[Not gonna take it anymore]

There is more Bible in the Catholic Church at any one Mass (daily or Sunday) than at most Protestant churches at their Sunday service. And it’s all about Jesus.

I am a former Protestant. I often wonder how many of the anti-Catholics here have actually ever been to a Mass or read the Catechism.

[Gamecock]

Which has nothing to do with my post.

[.45 Long Colt]

The Roman Jesus is not the Jesus Christ of the Bible. Jesus Christ of the Bible saves and He saves completely. He made one substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of His people and finished His work on the cross. We can’t add our filthy sinful works to His perfect work and expect salvation, for then grace would not be grace, it would be a wage. And we know the wages of sin is death!

To be accepted before the thrice holy God we must be perfect. Our only hope is to stand in the court of heaven clad in Christ’s spotless robes of righteousness. I know my sin debt was imputed to Him while His perfect righteousness was imputed to my account. Even though I have no righteousness of my own to offer, I know I am counted as righteous as He is. What an amazing truth! What grace!

I suggest the following links to my Protestant brethren. It’s vital to remember why the Reformation was biblical and necessary. We are still reaping the benefits of what those godly men did. Don’t fall for Rome’s Vatican II repackaging. Her doctrine is more aberrant than it was in the days of Luther, Knox, Calvin, and Zwingli.

I suggest the following links to Catholics as well. At a minimum it would be worthwhile to understand why we see the mass as unbiblical blasphemy.

Repudiating the Blasphemous Idolatry of the Roman Mass
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=10707173911

Why Christians should not attend the Roman Catholic mass
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=4181142281

“And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” (Romans 11:6)

[Zionist Conspirator]

The Catholic Church will never reject higher criticism or evolutionism because the very identity of Catholicism is now wedded to those two concepts (to differentiate it from Protestant Fundamentalism).

Furthermore, despite all the hoo-ha about how the liberal Vatican II recognized the validity of the Jewish covenant with G-d, Catholic apologeticists still make a punching bag out of Fundamentalist devotion to the significance of the Jewish presence in the Holy Land. I'm afraid all the liberal philo-Judaism is largely window dressing.

So long as these three things stand in the way, he's never going to have "unity" with people whose beliefs his church condemns.

[zot]

Thanks for the ping. The various branches of Christianity can and should respect each other and work together, but without trying to unify their doctrines, dogmas or organizations.

[daniel1212]

As an Evangelical, I am honestly confused about why the 1999 Catholic-Lutheran Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification has not resulted in more unity.

Because the carefully worded statement:

"by grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works,"

lacks precision, and nether it nor any not signifies full agreement on this critical issue, and is seen as a compromise by adherents on both sides, and testifies that Lutheranism needs to come further out of Rome.

JDDJ is a document created and agreed to by the Catholic Church's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) and the Lutheran World Federation in 1999, and interprets Trent, but as it is not an ex cathedra statement, Catholics can meekly dissent and hold that it is open to reform or correction.

What Rome means "by grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit," is that of a salvation system which begins (usually) thru the act (ex opere operato: "by the work worked") of sprinkling of water on a morally incognizant innocent infant, rendering him/her cleansed from original sin and born again, and has an "indelible mark" placed on his soul (which even unbaptized Christian martyrs do not get). And thus which baptism even an unbeliever could perform in an emergency with this effect.

And which act makes the soul accepted in Christ and good enough for Heaven at that point, but as they sin afterwards this process (usually) ends with the soul becoming good enough to enter Heaven thru an indeterminate time suffering in purgatory commencing at death.

And which further "processing" they may avoid by fully cooperating grace, and which Rome dispenses thru her Treasury of Merit®, or escape earlier from thru "Indulgences."

Thus salvation "by grace thru faith" effectually means that by the grace of God dispensed thru the church one "is formally justified and made holy by his own personal justice and holiness." (Catholic Encyclopedia> Sanctifying Grace) And "Moved by the Holy Spirit, we can merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification and for the attainment of eternal life," (Catechism of the Catholic church, Part 3, Life in Christ, Merit, 2010) And thus they are "accounted to have, by those very works which have been done in God,... truly merited eternal life." ( Trent, Chapter XVI; The Sixth Session Decree on justification, 1547)

In contrast, what we see in Scripture is that souls have their hearts "purified by faith," (Acts 10:43; 15:9) that of the kind of a faith which confesses the Lord Jesus, which is normally and formally first in baptism, and which signifies repentant faith by the Holy Spirit, and whom they receive in conversion. (Acts 2:38; 10:44-47; 15:7-9) For as God justifies the unGodly by faith, counting that for righteousness, (Rm. 4:1-7) with works then justifying him as one who has true faith, versus a faith which does not effect the obedience of faith. (Heb. 6:9; Ja. 2:18)

The believer at that point is " washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God, " (1 Corinthians 6:11) "accepted in the Beloved," seated together in heavenly places, (Eph. 1:6: 2:6) as a new creature in Christ. (2Cor. 5:17)

And therefore the believer is appealed to be and live out in practical terms what he is positionally. (Col. 3:1ff) But as he was not justified before God "by works of righteousness that we have done," (Titus 3:5) or his own holiness, thus true believers go to be with the Lord upon death, (Luke 23:43; Acts 7:59; 1Cor. 15:52; 2 Cor 5:8; Phil. 1:23; 1 Th 4:17; 1Jn. 3:2) or the Lord's return, (1Thes. 4:17) "and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

The place of merit does come in as per the sense of God covenantally recompensing faith (Heb. 10:35) in recognition of what it effected, (Matthew 25:34-35) by which they are accounted to be have true enduring faith, (Luke 21:36) and as fitting to be rewarded, (Revelation 3:4; 21:7) even though in reality they are worthy of eternal damnation, while eternal life is an unmerited gift. (Rm. 6:23)

"Brothers and sisters, Luther's protest is over," Palmer told his audience. "Is yours?"

Thus as even a Lutheran states,

Is this true? Was the schism of the 16th Century one big misunderstanding? Do the Roman Catholics really teach essentially the same thing as the Lutherans on how a sinner is justified by God? Is it true that “The condemnations in the Lutheran Confessions do not apply to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church presented in this Declaration”? No, it is not true.

What, then, is the JDDJ for? It is not for teaching the faith. The Vatican’s involvement in the production of this document has been through the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, not through the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Lutheran World Federation – which claims to speak for Lutherans worldwide – clearly is not in agreement with itself on the doctrine of justification, nor has it been since its meeting in Helsinki, Finland in 1963. Put into plain English, the JDDJ is a church political document. It isn’t intended for use in catechesis, worship, or any other churchly activity. It is rather intended to make Lutherans and Catholics feel good about the fact that their children aren’t insulting the pope and Martin Luther in the neighborhood ally.

A more detailed critique follows. http://www.christforus.org/Papers/Content/JDDJ.html