New Apostolic Church Switzerland joins the "Riva San Vitale Declaration”

On 8 July 2021, Bishop Dr Felix Gmür, President of the Swiss Bishops' Conference, signed a mutual recognition of baptism with "District Apostle"* Jürg Zbinden, Church President of the New Apostolic Church Switzerland, in the Bruder Klaus Church in Bern together with representatives of the Reformed, Christian Catholic**, Methodist, Anglican and Lutheran communities in Switzerland.

This mutual recognition followed a lengthy process of theological clarification and the publication of a revised catechism by the New Apostolic Church. This process confirmed the ecumenical commitment of the New Apostolic Church in Switzerland.

The request of adhesion of the New Apostolic Church Switzerland to the "Riva San Vitale Declaration"  on mutual recognition of baptism (2014) was intensively discussed in an ad hoc ecumenical working commission and finally endorsed.

In a letter to the Swiss Bishops' Conference in November 2020.Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, had recommended that the New Apostolic Church joins the "Riva San Vitale Declaration " 

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*In the New Apostolic Church, "District Apostle" is the designation for a higher minister.

**Proper name of the Old Catholic Church in Switzerland.

^{© Photo Christoph Koch}