Card. Kasper in Seoul for ecumenism meeting with Asian bishops

The cardinal will be present at a celebration during which the World Methodist Conference will adhere to the Joint Declaration on Justification, agreed between the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation in 1999.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – The World Methodist Conference will adopt the Joint Declaration on Justification agreed between the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation in 1999, which, in practice, eliminated the main theological element of division between Catholics and Lutherans. The act to extend the Declaration will take place in Seoul, during a solemn celebration of the Word of God, in the presence of Cardinal Walter Kasper and Ismael Noko, General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation.

This was revealed by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in a statement announcing  a seminar on ecumenism starting today in the capital of South Korea, entitled The Search for Christian Unity: Where We Stand Today".

The aim of the seminar, organized jointly by the Vatican Dicastery, the Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC) and the Bishops' Conference of Korea, is "to provide an opportunity for Asian bishops and others working in the field to reflect on the realities of ecumenical relations in Asian countries, and to develop effective pastoral approaches, especially with regard to the problem of Pentecostalism".

The meeting in Seoul forms part of a series of seminars for bishops and others responsible for ecumenical dialogue organized by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, which "have been planned in response to the needs expressed by the bishops themselves to find a pastoral response to the emerging challenges, particularly the rapid growth of new religious movements (Pentecostal, Evangelical and Charismatic)".The next seminar will be held in the Philippines in February 2007.

The dates of the seminar in Seoul, according to the statement, "were timed to coincide with the World Methodist Conference, to be held there from July 20-24, an event which takes place every eight years and brings together people from all of the world's Wesleyan traditions. At this Conference it is expected that the Methodist Churches will adopt the Joint Declaration on Justification agreed between the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation in 1999, and a solemn celebration of the Word of God will mark this extended agreement, to be signed in the presence of Cardinal Kasper and Rev.Dr Ismael Noko, General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation."

The Methodist movement is spread across the world and has around 70 million followers.

• KOREA
• VATICAN
• Methodists
• Lutherans
• doctrine
• Justification
• ecumenism
• ASIA