Koch upbeat on ecumenism

Cardinal Kurt Koch has welcomed the “new perspectives” Pope Francis has opened for ecumenism, especially the new priority the Pope has given to the dialogue with the Pentecostal Churches, writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt.

The president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) said Pope Francis was fully acquainted with all the ongoing ecumenical dialogues, but as he had a Latin American background, he was giving priority to dialogue with the Pentecostal Churches, “and it is this dialogue that we must deepen”, Cardinal Koch told the German Protestant Church press service, Idea.

Cardinal Koch said he hoped the recent Orthodox summit in  Istanbul (see Church in the World, 15 March) would lead to a Pan- Orthodox Synod, which would be “a great step forward for ecumenism as inter-Orthodox tensions are an obstacle”.