Augsburg visits give the Lutherans added hope

SINCE 1974, when it became known that a silent move was under way in Rome to examine the possibility of recognition of the Confession of Augsburg as a "legitimate expression or Catholic truth", new life has flowed into the Catholic Lutheran dialogue. That move was described by many leading Lutherans as far more promising than a posthumous lifting of the excommunication of Martin Luther or even his canonization, as advocated by some progressive Catholics.
Whether Rome will be fact recognise the claims of the Lutheran document is uncertain. But it has just been announced that the Church will officially participate in the celebrations marking the 450th anniversary of publication in 1980 at Augsburg, Bavaria.
The Catholic delegation will include three cardinals: Cardinal
In 1530 the Confession of Augsburg declared the faith of Lutherans. As Catholic cardinals attend its 450th anniversary celebrations, Lalit Adolphus asks if it is not time for the Church to recognise its theology.
Willebrands, Archbishop of Utrecht and president of the Vatican Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Josef Hoffner, Archbishop of Cologne and chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Archbishop of Munich.
Dr Josef Stimpfle, the Catholic Bishop of Augsburg said recently that many leading German Lutherans would like Pope John Paul II to attend. He had mentioned the visit to the Pope at a private audience, but in subsequent consultations with many church leaders including the Lutheran Bishop of Bavaria, Dr Hanselmann, he had decided that an invitation would not be opportune.
The Confession of Augsburg, also know as the Confessio Augustana, is the official Lutheran confession of faith, It was drafted by Philipp Melanchthon, a close associate of Martin Luther. with a view to healing the widening gulf between Catholics and Protestants at the outbreak of the Reformation. It was read out at the Iteichstag, Augsburg on June 25, 1530 in the presence of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V.
The document consists of 28 articles. Some expound primary doctrines of faith while others deal with abuses in the late medieval Church. The most important article is the 20th, which states the Lutheran doctrine of justification by faith. All Luthewran ministers are required to take an oath of assent to the Confession of Augsburg at their ordination.
Its language is deliberately moderate but it was not accepted as a basis for reconciliation by the authorities of the day. The situation is different in our ecumenical times and many Lutherans hope that the Catholic Chuch will announce its formal recognition of the document on the 450th anniversary of its presentation.
The document has been the subject of both private and public discussions between theologians of the two Churches for some time.
At a symposium held in Munich last year under the joint auspices of the Catholic Academy of Bavaria and the Evangelical Academy of Tutzing (Bavaria), theologians emphasised that there was no inherent contradiction between the ecclesiolOgy of the Augsburg Confession and that taught by the Second Vatican Council.
"Willingness to accept each other in the fellowship of faith"
The Protestant theologian Professor Wenzel Lohff of the University of Hamburg said that in recognising the Confession the Catholic Church would be recognising the legitimacy of the Lutheran doctrine of justification. Such recognition, he added, would impose upon the Lutheran Church the duty to look more closely and more open-mindedly at the much richer tradition of faith in the Catholic Church.
By overcoming obstacles created by historically conditioned factors, the Lutheran Church would be able to combine "trust in the apostolic authority of the magisterium of the Church" with trust in the "immediate power of truth" of the Gospel.
In the ultimate analysis, Professor Lohff said, the question of recognition was not an academic problem. The real issue was whether there was mutual willingness to accept each other "in the fellowship of faith".
A clear answer to that question has been given by the Catholic Church in the form of the announcement of the presence of three cardinals at the Augsburg celebrations next year.