WASHINGTON – Martin Luther used two medieval traditions to form his position on justification – a stance that nearly 500 years later ultimately found acceptance among Catholics, according to a German Lutheran theologian and pastor.

VATICAN CITY – Cardinal-designate Anders Arborelius of Stockholm is Sweden's only Catholic bishop and the first native Swede to hold the post since the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s.

Martin Luther would be amazed. He would never have imagined the Pope of Rome could be a mere guest in any Christian church.

Pope Francis leaves on Monday (Oct. 31) for an overnight trip to Sweden, a historically Protestant country that today is one of the most secular in the world.

Pope Francis will join Lutheran leaders in Sweden Oct. 31 to launch a year of commemoration leading up to next year’s 500th anniversary of the onset of the Protestant Reformation. At first glance, it seems an odd stage for the Pope to occupy.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis' recent insistence on "walking ecumenism," the notion that Christians will draw closer to each other as they work together to help the poor, should resonate well with Lutherans and Catholics in Sweden.

VATICAN CITY – The extension of Pope Francis' trip to Sweden by one day to accommodate a papal Mass for the nations' Catholics does not detract from the ecumenical power of the trip, but actually highlights the need for Christian unity, said the general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation.

Oct. 31, 2017 will mark the 500th anniversary of the date Martin Luther posted his 95 proposals on the door of a Catholic church in Germany to launch the Protestant Reformation. Indeed, Luther’s imprint on Christianity has never faded over the centuries.

OXFORD, England – Germany's Catholic bishops praised Martin Luther, who started the Protestant Reformation, as a "Gospel witness and teacher of the faith" and called for closer ties with Protestants.

NEW ORLEANS – A key action at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America Churchwide Assembly in New Orleans was the approval Aug. 10 by 980 voting members of a document that marks 50 years of Lutheran-Catholic dialogue.

VATICAN CITY – The ecumenical commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in 2017 can be a time to celebrate the fact that Christians are no longer "on the path of separation, but that of unity," said Cardinal Walter Kasper, former president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis will visit Sweden in October to participate in an ecumenical service and the beginning of a year of activities to mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.

VATICAN CITY - The dignity of human life, family, marriage and sexuality are "urgent" issues that "cannot be silenced or ignored for fear" of threatening ecumenical achievements, said Pope Francis during an audience with Archbishop Antje Jackelen of Uppsala, Sweden.