Preparatory meeting for dialogue between Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE/GEKE) and Catholic Church

On 24 February 2022 Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), invited the Catholic participants in the dialogue between the Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE/GEKE) and the Catholic Church to a preliminary discussion at the PCPCU.

The gathering served as an initial opportunity for the Catholic delegation members to get to know each other and to coordinate the theological aspects of the first joint Protestant‒Catholic meeting, which will take place in Basel from 19‒21 April 2022.

Already in October 2018 Cardinal Kurt Koch and the then CPCE/GEKE Executive Director, Church President Gottfried Locher, had reached an agreement on the initiation of a multilateral (Lutheran‒Reformed‒United Protestant‒Catholic) dialogue at the regional level, which will now be implemented. A prior meeting had taken place on 7 September 2021.

The Catholic delegation comprised Bishop Dr Bertram Meier, Augsburg (delegation leader); Professor Dr Barbara Hallensleben, Fribourg (via zoom); Dr Liborius Olaf Lumma, Innsbruck; Professor Dr Aimable Musoni, SDB, Rome; and Father Dr Augustinus Sander, OSB, Vatican (delegation secretary).