“Baptism and Growth in Communion”

The Fifth Phase of the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity (2008-2019) has now come to its official conclusion with the completion of the document Baptism and Growth in Communion.

In a joint preamble, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) state that Baptism and Growth in Communion “includes important pneumatological impulses for ongoing theological and ecclesiological discussion. It makes a significant step in proposing a differentiating consensus on baptism.”

At the same time, the preamble mentions still different views when it continues: Baptism and Growth in Communion  “was studied and received by the Council of The Lutheran World Federation in June 2019. The Report was studied and critically evaluated by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, with the assistance of experts. In the process, the Catholic side has expressed serious concerns that focus, above all, on various ecclesiological presuppositions and consequences as well as ambiguities and misunderstandings in the chosen terminology.”

Given these concerns, both dialogue partners stated that the PCPCU "can only consider the report as an open-ended study document not yet ready for reception."

This open-ended study document is now available on the respective websites of the LWF and the PCPCU.