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| The service at the gothic Schlosskirche (All Saints' Church) in Wittenberg in eastern Germany marks the end of year-long celebrations of the 500 anniversary of the Reformation (AFP Photo/John MACDOUGALL) |
Wittenberg
(Germany) (AFP) - Catholic and Lutheran leaders Tuesday begged forgiveness for
violence sparked by the Reformation, as worshippers celebrated 500 years since
the religious revolution that created the Protestant church.
Chancellor
Angela Merkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier arrived for a service at
the church where German theologian Martin Luther is said to have first
displayed his list of criticisms of the Catholic Church in 1517.
Legend has
it Luther nailed his "95 theses" to the church door in a brazen
challenge to the powerful institution, creating shock waves that eventually
changed the face of Christianity.
The
Reformation caused major upheaval in Europe, leading to wars, persecutions and
exoduses, including the departure of the Pilgrims for what was later to become
America.
The
deadliest of Europe's religious conflicts was the Thirty Years' War which ended
in 1648 and after which religion's role in European politics was reduced.
The Vatican
and Lutheran World Federation released a rare joint statement on the
anniversary Tuesday, saying they "begged forgiveness for our failures and
for the ways in which Christians have wounded the Body of the Lord and offended
each other during the five hundred years since the beginning of the Reformation
until today".
"We
recognise that while the past cannot be changed, its influence upon us today
can be transformed to become a stimulus for growing communion, and a sign of
hope for the world to overcome division and fragmentation," they said.
'Overcoming differences'
The service
at the gothic Schlosskirche (All Saints' Church) in Wittenberg in eastern
Germany marks the end of year-long celebrations by protestants in 700 German
towns and cities.
 |
A statue of
German theologian Martin Luther stands in Wittenberg, eastern Germany,
where he
is said to have launched his challenge against the Catholic Church (AFP
Photo/Hendrik Schmidt)
|
Ahead of
the service, celebrants crowded the street leading to the 16th-century house of
worship, which houses Luther's tomb.
Luther
challenged Catholic clerics' practice of selling "indulgences" to
repentant worshippers.
He said
Christians could not buy or earn their way into heaven but only entered by the
grace of God, and his challenge had widespread ramifications, including the
establishment of the Church of England in Britain in 1534.
However,
the theologian's name has also been associated with one of Germany's darkest
periods: his attacks on Judaism in his writings were used as a reference for
Nazi ideology.
Merkel,
herself the daughter of a Protestant pastor, said it was essential that
Luther's anti-Semitism never be scrubbed from his theological legacy.
"That
is, for me, the comprehensive historical reckoning that we need," she said
in her weekly video podcast on Saturday.
There are
many theological differences between Protestants and Roman Catholics, including
whether or not the Bible is the highest authority in matters of faith and
whether the pope has full power over the Church.
In the
joint statement, both parties committed to "overcome remaining differences
between us", adding that it was "clear that what we have in common is
far more than that which still divides us".
The precise
number of Protestants is difficult to establish, given the number of Churches
and offshoots, but the independent Pew Research Center estimates there were
more than 800 million in 2011.
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