Lutherans Split Over Pope's Role

Lutherans Split Over Pope's Role

PARIS, March 11, 2001 (UPI) -- Lutheran bishops in Germany are split over whether the pope could act as a universally accepted spokesman for all Christianity, according to "Idea," a Protestant news service.

Hans Christian Knuth, presiding bishop of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany, suggested that Protestants might recognize the pontiff in this role. Johannes Friedrich, Lutheran bishop of Bavaria, seconded Knuth's suggestion. Friedrich is also in charge of his denomination's relations with the Roman Catholic Church.

But Margot Kaessmann, Lutheran bishop of Hanover, vehemently rejected her colleagues' proposal, calling it an illusion that was not evangelical. Said Kaessmann, "We don't need a Pope."

She said that according to Lutheran confessional writings "the church exists where Christians gather to hear the Gospel, and where the sacraments are properly administered."

The Catholic understanding of the papacy was incompatible with the Protestant concept of a priesthood of all believers, she said.

Kaessmann, a member of the World Council of Churches central committee, explained that the "priesthood of all believers" implied direct communication between the individual and God.

The bishop, a mother of four, also emphasized the Vatican's refusal to recognize the ordination of Protestant clergy, and particularly of female pastors.

Ishmael Noko, General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation in Geneva, reacted more cautiously to Knuth's and Friedrich's suggestion. He told "Idea" that Lutherans could certainly look to the Pope "as a spiritual leader in the word."

But, Noko said, "One cannot disassociate his spiritual role from his place as primate of the Roman Catholic episcopate."

The Lutheran leader then asked, "Does globalization really call for a global spokesman for all Christians?"

On the other hand, the Karl Cardinal Lehmann, chairman of Germany's National Catholic Bishops Conference, said he welcomed the two Lutheran bishops' proposal. Bishop Paul-Werner Scheele, this Catholic body's ecumenism officer commented that only a generation ago Protestants regarded the Pope as the Anti-Christ.

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