Acknowledging Catholic and Lutheran leaders

On Tuesday, October 31, in Westminster Abbey, a service was held to mark the 500th anniversary of Martin uther's public criticism of Catholic teaching on justification. Archbishop Welby presented a resolution from the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) at this service, welcoming the Roman Catholic-Lutheran Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification as a sign of healing after 500 years of division. 

The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification was first agreed in 1999. A document between the Pontifical council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Lutheran World Federation, it represents a significant move forward in the ecumenical world and has smoothed the way for a closer relationship between Lutherans and Catholics.

In July 2006 the Joint Declaration was adopted by the World Methodist Council. Then in July 2017 it was also adopted by the World Communion of Reformed Churches.

In April 2016, the ACC “welcomed and affirmed” the substance of the Joint Declaration. Early in 2017 the Church of England’s General Synod noted the ACC resolution, approving a motion welcoming “signs of convergence between the churches on the doctrine of salvation.”

We rejoice in the acknowledgement of our shared understandings.

Read the ACC Resolution below.

Resolution 16.17: Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification

The Anglican Consultative Council

1. welcomes and affirms the substance of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ), signed by Lutherans and Roman Catholics in 1999; and
2. recognizes that Anglicans have explored the doctrine of justification with both Lutherans and Roman Catholics; and
3. recognizes that Anglicans and Lutherans share a common understanding of God’s justifying grace, as the Helsinki Report stated that we are accounted righteous and are made righteous before God only by grace through faith because of the merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and not on account of our works or merits; and
4. recognizes that in 1986 the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) produced a statement Salvation and the Church, which observed that our two Communions are agreed on the essential aspects of the doctrine of salvation and on the Church’s role within it.