Rome (NEV), November 30, 2019 – The ecumenical prayer for the 20 years of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ), a historic ecumenical document signed on the occasion of the commemoration of the Protestant Reformation, on 31 October 1999, took place in Rome, on November 22 last, in the Abbey of St. Anselmo.
The JDDJ led Catholics and Lutherans to overcome the profound division of the Western Churches through what has been termed a “differentiated consensus”, that is, an agreement achieved in respect of different points of view by overcoming past conflicts. Subsequently, the agreement was also adopted by the World Methodist Council (in 2006), the World Communion of Reformed Churches and the Anglican Communion (in 2017).
In 2019, for the 20th anniversary of the JDDJ, Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, Reformed and Anglicans from around the world continue to gather in prayer to make a common memory of their baptism. The ecumenical prayer convened by Cardinal Kurt Koch in Rome, included a joint liturgy to which the dean of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Italy (CELI), Pastor Heiner Bludau, the Lutheran pastor Michael Jonas, the pastor Mirella Manocchio, president of the Permanent Committee of the Work for the Methodist churches in Italy (OPCEMI) and the Waldensian pastor Emanuele Fiume, participated among others.