Catholics engaging Luther
A German Roman Catholic bishop preached on the lessons his denomination should be trying to learn from Martin Luther. In his remarks he points out how Luther's 95 theses were meant to reform not divide the church.
"'It's fascinating just how radically he puts God at the centre,' Bishop Franz-Josef Bode said in an interview with the German Protestant news agency epd, in connection with a service at Osnabrück's Lutherkirche earlier this month, during which he preached on Luther."[...]In the Church of that era there had been tendencies that contributed to "misunderstandings", said Bode, citing grace and the forgiveness of sins as things that certainly cannot be bought, in a reference to the contemporary practice of the Catholic Church of selling indulgences.
"The focus on Christ, the Bible and the authentic Word - are things that we as the Catholic Church today can only underline," said Bode. He noted that especially with the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church has been able to understand and address in a new way Luther's thought and his esteem for the Word of God.
Read the full article here.
