Religious leaders from many Christian churches pray together and receive seeds from young people to symbolize the need to nurture seeds of reconciliation and unity.
LWF General Secretary Anne Burghardt (8th from left) with Pope Francis (10th from left) and the leaders of many different Christian churches at a Taizé prayer vigil in St Peter’s Square. Photo: CatholicPressPhoto/Alessia Giuliani
General Secretary Anne Burghardt and LWF Youth delegation represent Lutherans at Taizé ecumenical event
(LWI) - The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) General Secretary Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt joined Pope Francis, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, alongside a host of other Christian leaders and young people for a prayer vigil on 30 September in St Peter’s Square in Rome.
The event, organized by the Taizé community, together with the Vatican and a committee of ecumenical youth leaders, was held ahead of a Synod of Roman Catholic bishops from around the globe, who are meeting from 4 to 29 October to discuss reforming the Church. The Synod process, which began in 2021 and will continue through 2024, is seen as a hallmark of Pope Francis’ pontificate.
Commenting on the process, Burghardt said: “I deeply appreciate the intention to listen to different voices in the church and to include more voices from lay people, from women, from marginalized groups. I am also very appreciative of the ecumenical openness of the whole process. This Synod truly aims at making the voice of ordinary Christians audible today.”
LWF General Secretary Anne Burghardt reads from Ephesians during the prayer vigil in St Peter’s Square Photo: CatholicPressPhoto/Alessia Giuliani
During the vigil, which featured Taizé worship songs and prayers in many different languages, Burghardt read the words from Ephesians which were at the heart of the recent LWF Thirteenth Assembly in Krakow, Poland: “There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you were all called into one and the same hope when you were called.”
As the sun set behind St Peter’s Basilica, the religious leaders received seeds from the hands of young people, to symbolize the need for all churches to plant and nurture seeds of reconciliation and unity among Christians. Pope Francis thanked participants for joining this moment of prayer and silent meditation, saying: “Let us walk together [….] so that the world may believe.”
Savanna Sullivan, LWF’s Program Executive for Youth, who accompanied a group of young people from different Lutheran churches, stressed the importance of encouraging a new generation of ecumenists to bring “bold and creative ideas to the search for unity within the Christian world.”
General Secretary Anne Burghardt with LWF Youth delegation walking to St Peter’s Square. Photo: CatholicPressPhoto/Alessia Giuliani
Thousands of young people from different Christian churches joined the religious leaders to pray for peace, justice, reconciliation and unity. The LWF youth delegation included representatives from churches in Norway, South Africa, Argentina and Brazil. They were hosted by families from local Catholic parishes in Rome and took part in a day of workshops focused on themes of dialogue and practical action to strengthen ecumenical and interreligious relationships.
Sofie Hopshaug-Bakke is a youth leader in the Church of Norway diocese of Nidaros where she works to build connections with people of different faiths and cultures, including the indigenous Sami people and members of the growing Muslim population. Pretty Mgube from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa is also a youth leader in her parish in Pietermaritzburg and hopes this Rome experience will help her to “grow as a person and as a Christian, understanding better my Lutheran identity.”
Cecilia Lopez from Argentina is currently helping to lead a volunteer program with the Evangelisches Missionswerk organization in Germany. In her home city of Buenos Aires, she has worked closely with Christians from different churches and backgrounds: “Ecumenism is a part of me,” she says. Bianca Berger and Isabela Müller from the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil are also volunteering in Germany and hope to take back their experiences of ecumenism in Europe to share with young people when they return to their home church.
