CHAPTER 1: ECUMENICAL PROGRESS AND STAGNATION 43 historical visit to the Lutheran community in Rome on 15 November 2015. Some parish members had prepared questions for Pope Francis. One of them, a Lutheran woman named Anke de Bernardinis, who had a Roman Catholic husband, expressed her sorrow that they had been unable to share the Eucharist as a family and asked the pope: “what more can we do to reach communion on this point?”107 Pope Francis gave an elaborate answer, of which I quote some extensive excerpts: [O]n the journey, I wonder – and I don’t know how to answer, but I am making your question my own – I ask myself: ‘Is sharing the Lord’s Supper the end of a journey or is it the viaticum for walking together?’ I leave the question to the theologians, to those who understand. It is true that in a certain sense sharing is saying that there are no differences between us, that we have the same doctrine – I underline the word, a difficult word to understand – but I ask myself: don’t we have the same Baptism? And if we have the same Baptism, we have to walk together. You are a witness to an even profound journey because it is a conjugal journey, truly a family journey, of human love and of shared faith. (…) The question: and the Supper? There are questions to which only if one is honest with oneself and with the few theological ‘lights’ that I have, one must respond the same, you see. (…) I respond to your question only with a question: how can I participate with my husband, so that the Lord’s Supper may accompany me onmy path? It is a problem to which each personmust respond. A pastor friend of mine said to me: ‘We believe that the Lord is present there. He is present. You believe that the Lord is present. So what is the difference?’ — ‘Well, there are explanations, interpretations...’. Life is greater than explanations and interpretations. Always refer to Baptism: ‘One faith, one Baptism, one Lord’, as Paul tells us, and take the outcome from there. I would never dare give permission to do this because I do not have the authority. One Baptism, one Lord, one faith. Speak with the Lord and go forward. I do not dare say more.108 There are many layers in this response (which in fact is even longer and includes several anecdotes). I think that several important elements should be kept in mind when considering the pope’s responses to the German bishops. 107 Francis, “Visit to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Rome.” 108 Francis.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw