Together in Hope for the Ecumenical Future

Ecumenists are crazy anyway, Pope Francis told young Lutherans and Catholics celebrating their collaboration and dialogue in Sweden, and so continue in this craziness for the love of God and one another, he urged and prayed that the voice of hope they heard from the start would continue to move their hearts. More reason exists after 2017 to hope for success in ecumenism than at any time in 500 years. Unlike previous centennials, the fifth in 2017 of the Lutheran Reformation epitomized a commemoration for the ecumenical age. By 1999, the dialogues had realized a differentiating consensus for agreement on the doctrine of justification and as a model the future. Hope impelled the dialogues; hope topped the themes of 2017; and hope directs five communions of churches sharing the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification to discern its spiritual and ecclesiastical consequences for greater fellowship and communion.