Communiqué

On 7 September 2021 a meeting took place in the rooms of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) in the Vatican between members of the PCPCU and the Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE). The topic of the talks was continuing the planning of a dialogue, to which the two partners had originally agreed in autumn 2018. Now that the two sides had appointed their delegations, this meeting was convened in order to make the final arrangements before the official dialogue starts next year.

Participants from the PCPCU side were its president, Kurt Cardinal Koch, Bishop Bertram Meier (Augsburg) as designated leader of the Roman Catholic delegation and Pater Augustinus Sander OSB as its designated secretary. The CPCE was represented by its Executive President John Bradbury (also the designated leader of the delegation), General Secretary Mario Fischer and Study Secretary Martin Friedrich as designated secretary on the Protestant side.

2018 saw the conclusion of a series of consultations on behalf of the CPCE and the PCPCU, which presented as its findings a “Report on Church and Church Communion”. The dialogue between CPCE and PCPCU to begin in 2022 will aim to produce a document with the preliminary working title “Towards a Common Understanding of Church: Reassurance, Deepening, Outlook”.

Appendix: Members of the delegations

The delegation of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity consists of:

Bishop Dr. Bertram Meier, Augsburg (delegation leader)

Prof. Dr. Barbara Hallensleben, Fribourg

Privatdozent Dr. Liborius Olaf Lumma, Innsbruck

Prof. Dr. Aimable Musoni SDB, Rome

Delegation secretary: Pater Dr. Augustinus Sander OSB, Vatican City

The delegation of the Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe consists of:

Dr. John Bradbury, London, United Reformed Church (delegation leader)

Prof. Dr. Fréderic Chavel, Paris, Eglise Protestante Unie de France

Prof. Dr. Paul Nimmo, Aberdeen, Church of Scotland

Prof. Dr. Friederike Nüssel, Munich/ Heidelberg, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria

Delegation secretary: Prof. Dr. Martin Friedrich, Vienna