LUTHERAN DELEGATION FROM NORWAY WELCOMED IN VATICAN

VATICAN CITY, NOV 16, 2002 (VIS) - Bishop Finn Wagle and a delegation from the Lutheran diocese of Nidaros in Norway, in Rome for the feast day of St. Olav, patron of Norway, were welcomed to the Vatican this morning by the Holy Father.

The Pope recalled his visit to Norway and the Scandinavian nations in 1989, and said that "the ecumenical service in the cathedral of Nidaros ... was a sign of new and deeper ecumenical relations between us, improved relations which, in 1993, enabled the Lutheran Church to allow the Catholic community to celebrate in the old cathedral the 150th anniversary of the re-establishment of the Catholic Church in Norway."

"We are committed," stated John Paul II, "to moving further ahead on the path to reconciliation. The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification between the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church, signed in 1999, paves the way for a more extensive common witness. It brings us a step closer to the full visible unity which is the goal of our dialogue."

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