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By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
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At the conclusion of the annual week of prayer devoted to overcoming divisions in Christianity, Pope Benedict XVI has warned that hard political choices over “the family, marriage and sexuality” cannot be played down for the sake of preserving good relations among the various Christian denominations.
Instead, the pope called for Christians to offer a unified front on such questions, “which cannot be minimized or avoided simply to avoid endangering the agreement we’ve already achieved.”
The pontiff’s remarks came in an audience this morning with a delegation from the Lutheran Church in Germany, to mark the end of the Jan. 18-25 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Benedict expressed the hope that “no new confessional differences” will erupt on the pro-life questions, noting that since 2009 the Catholic bishops of Germany and leaders of the Lutheran Church have had a bilateral dialogue commission on “God and Human Dignity.”
That dialogue has at times been contentious, given that many Lutheran churches in Germany accept openly gay clergy and view homosexuality as morally acceptable, and some also bless same-sex unions.More…