On February 18, a common prayer between the Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church, was held to commemorate 50 years of ecumenical dialogue and to express the closeness between the two churches.
An opportunity to put into practice the motto “from conflict to communion”, the title of the document shared in 2013 by the Lutheran – Roman Catholic Commission for unity. This is the goal of the common prayer that took place on February 18, in Bethlehem, in the church of St. Catherine. The gathering, led by Mons. Piebattista Pizzaballa, Apostolic Administrator of the Latin Patriarchate and by Bishop Munib Younan, Bishop of the Lutheran Church of Jerusalem, is a step forward in the ecumenical dialogue between the two communities. This journey began 50 years ago and culminated in the meeting between Pope Francis and the bishop Younan on Oct. 31, in Sweden.