They signed a Joint Declaration in Augsberg, Germany, declaring that God grants salvation as an unearned gift but that one's salvation also is reflected in good works. Roman Catholics seem to be saying that Martin Luther was right, that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Whether this joint agreement will ultimately lead to the reunification of the Catholics and Lutherans who were so rudely split during the Protestant Reformation is anybody's guess. But they certainly are getting closer together. On the part of Catholics, many leaders are saying they have always recognized that salvation is a free gift of God, but they strongly believe that good works must be done or the salvation is not valid.
Lutheran leaders say they have always believed that good works are a reflection of salvation.
Cardinal Edward Cassidy, president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, signed the agreement for the world's almost 1 billion Catholics. All but 3 million of the world's 61.5 million Lutherans were represented by Bishop Christian Krause, president of the Lutheran World Federation, and by the Rev. Ishmael Noko, the federation's general secretary. In effect, the agreement means the whole Protestant Reformation spawned by an ugly exchange between Martin Luther and the Roman Catholic hierarchy was, perhaps, a misunderstanding. But what a momentous misunderstanding. The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the nation's largest Lutheran body, with 5.2 million members, issued a statement calling it a significant breakthrough toward reunion of the two groups.