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The Catholic–Lutheran dialogue is a series of discussions that began during July 1964 as an outgrowth of the Second Vatican Council. These gatherings reflect the new openness of the Catholic Church to dialogue with other Christian denominations as well as other religions. These dialogues have been primarily between representatives of the Lutheran World Federation and representatives of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.^[1]^[2]

The Catholic–Lutheran dialogue within the United States have been conducted under the auspices of the U.S. Bishops' Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and the USA National Committee of the Lutheran World Federation. The Catholic–Lutheran dialogue brought the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) together to dialogue with the American Catholic community. The LCMS has not participated in all discussions. Unlike the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the LCMS has not come to an agreement with the Catholic Church due to differences in the understanding of various issues including faith, grace, and sin.^[3]

After the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic–Lutheran dialogue culminated in the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (1999) and the Statement on the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation with Pope Francis and Bishop Munib Younan in a special Catholic-Lutheran dialogue (2016), which essentially resolved the core theological conflict of Martin Luther and subsequent adversaries.^[4]^[5] This conflict was further eased by the Anglican Communion doing the same.^[6]^[7]

Rounds of discussion

Starting in July 1964, over 50 sessions have been held taking up eleven rounds of topics as of 2015^[update]:^[8]

I. The Status of the Nicene Creed as Dogma of the Church (1965)
II. One Baptism for the Remission of Sins (1966)
III. The Eucharist as Sacrifice (1968)
IV. Eucharist and Ministry (1970)
V. Papal Primacy and the Universal Church (1973)
VI. Teaching Authority & Infallibility in the Church (1978)
VII. Justification by Faith (1983)^[9]
VIII. The One Mediator, the Saints, and Mary (1990)
IX. Scripture and Tradition (1995)
X. The Church as Koinonia of Salvation: Its Structures and Ministries (2004)^[10]
XI. The Hope for Eternal Life (2010)^[11]
XII. Ministries of Teaching (2011)^[12]

Subsequent events

Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona and the ELCA bishop of Southeast Minnesota leading a common commemoration in 2017 of the Protestant Reformation

Significant events following these dialogues included a joint statement on the doctrine of Justification by Faith issued in 1983 and the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification issued on 31 October 1999. In 2010, the Catholic–Lutheran dialogue completed a common statement entitled The Hope of Eternal Life. In 2015, Lutherans and Roman Catholics jointly issued the Declaration on the Way: Church, Ministry and Eucharist, an ecumenical document marking greater visible unity between Catholics and Lutherans.^[13]^[14]

The Lutheran World Federation and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity hosted a joint Ecumenical Commemoration event at Lund Cathedral in Lund, Sweden, on 31 October 2016. This was a shared Catholic–Lutheran commemoration of the 499th anniversary of the posting by Martin Luther of the Ninety-five Theses at All Saint's Church in Wittenberg, Germany, in 1517.^[15]^[16]

Documents

Catholic–Lutheran Joint Commission^[17]^[18]

"First Official Report of the Joint Working Group" (1966)
"The Gospel and the Church" (1972)
The Eucharist (1978)
"Statement on the Augsburg Confession" (1980)
"Ways to Community" (1980)
"The Ministry in the Church" (1981)
"Martin Luther - Witness to Jesus Christ" (1983)
"Facing Unity. Models, Forms and Phases of Catholic-Lutheran Church Fellowship" (1984)
"Church and Justification" (1994)