Pope Francis in Sweden


On Monday, October 31, 2016, Pope Francis arrived in Sweden in order to participate in the launching of the 500th anniversary since Luther’s pinning of his 95 theses on the door of the Cathedral of Wittenberg.

francis mounib

Pope Francis arrived in the International Airport of Malmö where he was officially welcomed by the Prime Minister (view video here). King Karl XVI Gustav and Queen Silvia of Sweden received the Holy Father at the king’s house in Lund.

Pope Francis, Lutheran Bishop of Jordan and the Holy Land and President of the Lutheran World Federation, Mounib Younan, and Rev. Martin Junge, the General Secretary of the LWF jointly led an ecumenical service in Lund Cathedral. Catholics and Lutherans from all parts of the globe were gathered in the ancient cathedral, which echoed with music and song in different languages and diverse religious traditions, from a haunting lament in Aramaic, through many of the well-known Taize chants, to a rhythmic song of thanksgiving from Botswana. Wearing simple white cassocks and red stoles, the Pope and the Lutheran leaders led the congregation in prayer, before signing a joint statement pledging to continue the journey from conflict to communion, to make sure that Christian divisions are never again exploited and instrumentalized for political ends.

From the sombre setting of the cathedral, the Pope and the Lutheran leaders then travelled together to the nearby city of Malmo, where thousands of cheering young people were waiting inside the local ice hockey arena. The event, organised by Caritas Internationalis and by the Lutheran World Service featured music and testimonies about the way Catholics and Lutherans are working together on some of the most urgent issues of the day, from supporting refugees to combatting climate change, from educating orphans in Africa to promoting peace in Colombia or Syria (view video here).

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