POPE LAUDS SIGNING OF DECLARATION ON JUSTIFICATION

VATICAN CITY, OCT 31, 1999 (VIS) - Prior to praying the angelus this morning with the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square, the Holy Father spoke of the signing today in Augsburg, Germany, by the Catholic Church and the World Lutheran Federation of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification.

"This is a milestone on the not easy path of recomposing full unity among Christians," stated John Paul II, "and it is rather significant that it took place in the city in which, in 1530 with the "Confessio Augustana," a decisive page in the Lutheran Reformation was written.

"Such a document," the Pope went on, referring to the joint declaration, "constitutes a secure basis for pursuing ecumenical theological research and for facing the difficulties which remain with a better established hope of resolving them in the future. ... I thank the Lord for this intermediate and important step along the difficult route, but rich with joy, unity and communion among Christians."

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