Pope to bring German Catholics, Protestants closer

Munich (Germany), Sep 13: Pope Benedict sketched out a vision of Christian unity as the promotion of common moral principles today amid calls from German Protestants and Catholics to do more to bring them closer in everyday life.

The Pope, speaking at a vesper service with Orthodox and Protestant clerics, said Christians must stand together to defend their common values in a world that is becoming increasingly confusing and losing sight of God.

His comments reflected a growing consensus among some churches that they should speak with one voice on issues such as bioethics, abortion or the environment to have more influence.

But this focus overlooked pressing practical problems dividing German Christians, especially a Catholic ban on communion for Protestants that keeps the many mixed-faith couples here from taking the Eucharist together.

Germany's President Horst Koehler and Chancellor Angela Merkel, both Protestants, and the Catholic Premier of Bavaria Edmund Stoiber have all called on the Pope to do more to overcome these practical problems.

''In a world full of confusion, we must again bear witness to the standards that make life truly life,'' Benedict said at the service in the cathedral in Regensburg, a Bavarian university city where he taught theology from 1969 to 1977.

''This important task, common to all Christians, must be faced with determination. It is the responsibility of Christians, now, to make visible the standards that indicate a just life, which have been clarified for us in Jesus Christ.''

Protestants Disappointed

Benedict pledged to make ecumenism a top priority when he was elected Pope in April 2005, but has disappointed Protestants by concentrating mostly on the Orthodox churches whose teachings are closer to those of the Roman Catholic Church.

Confronted with Koehler's request on his arrival in Munich on Saturday, Benedict assured him he would use ''heart and head to bring us closer.'' But he made no suggestions in his speech.

''If the Pope's spontaneous answer ... remains without concrete results, the people who have welcomed him with such enthusiasm in his homeland will be very disappointed,'' said We Are Church, a network of liberal Catholics.

Germany is about one-third Catholic, one-third Protestant and one-third unaffiliated or Muslim and other religions.

Catholic priests sometimes quietly give communion to Protestants here, but any priest who does so openly and attracts attention -- such as a priest who did it at an ecumenical meeting in Berlin -- risk being suspended.

Protestants usually invite all Christians to communion, a central element in services in many Christian churches.

Benedict sketched out his view of ecumenism on German television last month, saying agreement on common ethical values first was a way to reach unity in other areas later on.

''We might not come to an external unity that quickly, but we will mature in an inner unity that, if God wills it, will one day also bring external forms of unity,'' he said.

External unity, or visible signs of growing cooperation among Christians, suffered a setback in Germany last year when the two sides split over a joint Bible translation project.

The Protestants pulled out of the project complaining that the Catholics were demanding it follow Vatican guidelines on how to translate Scripture that use Latin texts as their benchmark.

Reuters