The news of Bishop Christian Krause’s death reached me just as I was beginning a Zoom conference call with Bishops from various churches who are friends of the Focolare Movement, with whom he has been a faithful traveling companion for many years. We knew his health had been deteriorating and we had been praying for him, so it was spontaneous to recite the ‘Our Father’ together, thanking God for his prophetic and encouraging presence among us. He was a man with a big heart and broad horizons.
“Colourful Bishops”
There would be a lot to say about Bishop Christian. As I write, I have before me a photograph of Cardinal Vlk of Prague (Czech Republic), Cardinal Kriengsak of Bangkok (Thailand), Dr. Mor Theophilose Kuriakose of the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church (India), myself (a Catholic) and Bishop Christian walking towards the city centre of Lund (Sweden), dressed in our ecclesiastical robes, heading for a ceremony at the Cathedral to mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. This ecumenical event, hosted by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and attended by Pope Francis, was the first time that Catholics and Lutherans commemorated the Reformation together on a global level.
The photo reminds me of the fondness with which Bishop Christian called the Bishops of various Churches associated with the Focolare Movement “colourful bishops”. He was deeply passionate about the experience of unity in variety and diversity, inspired by a charism and by a spirituality of unity and supported by the Focolare, a predominantly lay movement. Our colourful vestments symbolized the deeper richness of the gifts exchanged during the dialogue of life undertaken by Bishops from various churches since 1982—a dialogue initiated by Bishop Klaus Hemmerle and Chiara Lubich, with the blessing of Pope John Paul II.
An Historic Day
Although Bishop Christian became acquainted with the Focolare in the 1980s through Bishop Hemmerle, his meeting with Chiara Lubich on 31st October, 1999 was a special moment for him. It took place in the context of what was undoubtedly a key moment in his life: the signing, on behalf of the LWF, of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification with the Roman Catholic Church, on 31st October 1999 in Augsburg, Germany. Over the years, Bishop Krause has often shared with us the significance of that event, emphasizing its importance as a document signed on the brink of the 21st century. He often recalled how, on that very occasion, a group of founders and leaders of Evangelical and Catholic Movements and Communities gathered in the Focolare little town of Ottmaring to launch the ‘Together for Europe’ project. That day’s meeting with Chiara Lubich opened a path for him into an ecumenical experience whose prophetic possibilities and implications he perhaps understood more deeply than many of us.
Broad Horizons
When I became a bishop in 2013, I came into much closer contact with Bishop Christian within the framework of the Bishops of various churches who are friends of the Focolare Movement. After Lund, several of us met for monthly online teleconferences. Meeting with Christian was always a great way to broaden your horizons, because he liked to see things in the bigger picture. His sense of humour was evident in the sparkle in his eyes and his kind smile.
Bishop Christian Krause was passionate about the Church, about the unity of the Church and the need to move forward. For him, life was not about standing still. If we want to improve the future, we must be ready to disrupt the present! In the case of the Bishop Friends of the Focolare, Bishop Christian urged us to widen the circle and to commit ourselves to promoting circles of living dialogue with the Bishops of various Churches in the Global South. He was so pleased that in September 2021, in the midst of Covid, we were able to organize an online meeting for 180 bishops from 70 Churches from all over the world. It was a wonderful three-day meeting.
Glimpses of Hope
I recently visited Bishop Christian in the nursing home where he had moved in the last weeks of his life. Our conversation was one I will remember for a long time. He spoke to me of his gratitude for having encountered the charism of the Focolare, of the support and friendship he had experienced. Raised in the tradition of “awakening” (pietistic), his encounter with the Movement was in line with his personal conviction of the need for piety, for spirituality.
He did not hide the pain he felt at times, seeing how the world seems to have lost the visionary dynamic of hope from the 1960s, when global mission and the horizons of peace seemed within reach. Equally painful for him was the fact that it was still not possible to receive communion in the Catholic Church.
He told me about an event in the ‘90s when Chiara Lubich was not well. During a meeting, Cardinal Miloslav Vlk invited him to come with him and make a short phone call to Chiara. It was to be a short phone call and so to keep it that way, Bishop Christian simply asked Chiara: “Do you have a word for us?” Chiara did not hesitate to answer: “Always Go Forward!” Christian was very impressed.
“Always Go Forward” was the stimulus that Bishop Christian always brought us. Speaking to me about his preparation for death, he showed his strong faith with which he knew how to look to the future, including death, with hope. He shared with me the prayer taken from a famous poem by Dietrich Bonhoeffer that inspired him in that last period: “By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered, And confidently waiting, come what may, We know that God is with us night and morning, And never fails to greet us each new day”.
Bishop Brendan Leahy Bishop of Limerick, Ireland
Bishop emeritus Christian Krause was born on 6th January 1940 in Dallgow-Döberitz, Brandenburg (Germany). He studied theology in Germany (Marburg, Heidelberg and Göttingen) and in the United States (Chicago). He was ordained a Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover in 1969. He worked as an assistant at the then Department of Theology of the Lutheran World Federation in Geneva (Switzerland) from 1969 to 1970 and at the headquarters of the Christian Service for Refugees of Tanganyika in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, from 1970 to 1972. From 1972 to 1985 he was responsible for international ecumenical affairs, serving as Executive Secretary (Oberkirchenrat) to the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany and the German National Committee of the LWF in Hanover, Germany. From 1985 to 1994 he was General Secretary of the German Evangelical Kirchentag (Lay Movement of the Protestant Church). He was Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brunswick, Germany, from 1994 to 2002. From 1997 to 2003 he was President of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). He died on 28th November in Wolfenbüttel, Germany, at the age of 84. Bishop Christian leaves behind his wife Gertrud Krause and four children.
“To give a soul to Europe” is the aim of Together for Europe, a Christian network made up of over 300 Movements, Organizations and Communities from Western and Eastern Europe. It shines out as a sign of hope, especially in times of conflict and crisis.
On 31st October, Together for Europe (TfE) celebrated its 25th anniversary. This date also marked the historic 1999 Catholic-Lutheran Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification in Augsburg, Germany, which healed a division of over 500 years between the two churches. In the years that followed, dialogue between them, based on mutual forgiveness, deepened, culminating in the historic Pact of Reciprocal Love in December 2001 at the Lutheran Church in Munich, attended by over 600 people.
The early promoters of TfE include Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement, Andrea Riccardi,founder of the Community of Sant’Egidio and other founders of Italian Catholic and German Evangelical-Lutheran Movements and Communities, united by a commitment to journey together.
This year, from 31st October- 2nd November, more than 200 TfE representatives gathered in Graz-Seckau for the annual event, entitled “Called to Hope.” Participants represented 52 Movements, Communities and Organisations from 19 European countries and included Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Reformed and Free Church Christians, along with spiritual leaders, laypeople, civil authorities and political figures.
Among them were Bishop Wilhelm Krautwaschl of the host diocese, Bishop József Pál of the Diocese of Timișoara (Romania), Jesús Morán, Co-President of the Focolare Movement, Reinhardt Schink of the Evangelical Alliance in Germany, Markus Marosch of the Round Table (Austria), Márk Aurél Erszegi from the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and former Prime Ministers Alojz Peterle of Slovenia and Eduard Heger of Slovakia. A delegation from the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy, including Secretary-General Maximos Charakopoulos (Greece) and Advisor Kostantinos Mygdalis, also participated.
In his opening speech, Gerhard Pross (Esslingen YMCA), moderator of TfE and a witness of its beginnings, highlighted the many moments of grace experienced over the past 25 years. Bishop Christian Krause, who in 1999 was President of the Lutheran World Federation and co-signed the Joint Declaration, sent a message emphasizing the significance of this shared journey.
One participant shared, “Given the current situation in Europe, I arrived here discouraged and depressed. But these days have filled me with courage and hope.” A Ukrainian lady echoed this sentiment: “To be ambassadors of reconciliation, that is what I take away from this gathering. I live in a country at war, where reconciliation is not yet up for discussion. But I feel we can be ambassadors, because ambassadors are by definition diplomats who offer and prepare rather than imposing. This is the mission I feel called to bring where I live. I will try to do so, striving to be, as Jesús Morán said, ‘an artisan of a new culture.’”
In his address, Jesús Morán emphasized, “Change does not happen overnight. What we need are artisans and farmers of a new culture who work, sow and hope with patience. The ‘togetherness’ we speak of is not a simple union. Unlike union, unity regards participants as individuals. Its goal is community… Unity transforms those involved, because it reaches their essence without undermining their individuality. Unity is more than shared commitment; it is being united as one in commitment. While diversity in union can lead to conflict, in unity it becomes a source of richness. Ultimately, unity transcends participants and is received as a gift.”
During the gathering, participants solemnly renewed the Pact of Reciprocal Love, the foundation of their shared commitment, praying in four languages: “Jesus, we want to love one another as You have loved us.”
The event concluded with the idea of hosting a major event in 2027 to send a powerful message of unity and hope to Europe.
As a participant from the Netherlands reflected: “I am sure that work, life, love and suffering will bring good to Europe. It is very important to be ambassadors of reconciliation… Artisans are essential, to plant seeds of hope.”
Speaking from the stage of the Genfest 2024 in Aparecida, Edy, a Peruvian Catholic, accompanied by 13 other young people from various Christian Churches and Latin American countries, said, “Ikuméni has transformed the way we young people relate to each other, the way we look at each other and how we can have unity in diversity”.
But what is Ikuméni? It is a four-month training course in a leadership style based on the art of hospitality, cooperation and good practice. Edy continued, “A highlight was our final face-to-face meeting”. Pablo, a Salvadoran Lutheran, immediately intervened: “One thing that had a big impact on us was learning to generate cooperation initiatives together, which we call good ecumenical and interreligious practices, working alongside people from different Churches and religions, willing to serve in the challenges we face today in our cities and rural areas.”
Ikuméni offers young people various paths for implementing good practices: this is how initiatives for peacebuilding, conflict resolution, integral ecology and sustainable development, humanitarian issues and resilience have emerged, working together not only with people from different Churches, but also with civil society to care for one another.
“In my case, we started a peace-building initiative in the social sciences faculty of the university where I study,” shared Laura Camila, a Colombian who lives in Buenos Aires and is a member of a Pentecostal ecclesial community. She stressed, “We need to work together for peace, we really need it. So in collaboration with various Churches, initiatives were born to strengthen resilience by creating ecumenical and interreligious networks and workshops for dialogue and training in conflict resolution”.
The Ikuméni training itinerary is a scholarship program and therefore there is no cost for the participants who are selected to participate in the course. It requires a commitment of 4 hours per week and attendance in person at the regional Ikuméni meeting. Young people aged 18-35 years old who have completed secondary education are eligible to participate. It is organized by CREAS (Regional Ecumenical Advisory and Service Centre) with the collaboration of several organizations.
Enrolment is currently open for the 2025 program. All the information is available here: https://ikumeni.org/
Have a look at the video we filmed a few months ago in Buenos Aires during the team meeting.
“We are convinced that the cooperation of the Christian world is essential. The common Easter celebration in 2025 of all Christians, together with events for the anniversary of the first Council of Nicaea, can serve as a meaningful starting point to take up the challenges of humanity together and promote joint activities. We hope to organize a meeting with representatives of the Christian world, with your presence, in the place where the Nicaea council originally took place ”.
These words accompanied the ecumenical group “Pasqua Together 2025” (PT2025), that gathers groups and communities of various Christian denominations, first to Istanbul (Turkey), in audience with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, then in the Vatican with Pope Francis, on the 14th and 19th of September respectively.
The group asked the two Christian leaders for next year’s common celebration of the Resurrection not to be an exception but to become the norm for all Christian Churches: a further step towards unity, in preparation for the upcoming Second Millennium of Redemption in 2033, which will be the 2,000th anniversary of Christ’s resurrection.
“Pasqua Together 2025” began precisely in view of the upcoming exceptional coincidence that, in 2025, the Easter date falls on the same day for the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Christians of the Western and Orthodox churches will, therefore, celebrate Easter on the same day. Moreover, the 1,700th anniversary of the Nicaea Ecumenical Council, which declared the Symbol of faith (the Creed) and addressed the theme of the Easter date, will be remembered.
The group is composed of representatives of various Christian churches and Christian political and social movements, like the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (I.A.O.) that was the promoter; the “Together for Europe” project, the “Jesus Christ 2033” movement and the “Centro Uno” of the Focolare Movement. The group has been following a common path for two years which has led them to signing a joint declaration that brought about the commitment to work so that all Christian churches may celebrate Easter together. Besides the Patriarch of Constantinople and Pope Francis, the document had been previously sent to the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, Rev. Jerry Pillay and the former General Secretary of the World Evangelical Alliance, Bishop Thomas Schirrmacher. Contacts with other Christian leaders will take place soon.
Patriarch Bartholomew I announced that a joint commission made up of four Orthodox and four Roman Catholic members are already working on the programme for the celebration of the 1,700th anniversary of the first Ecumenical Council which will take place precisely in Iznick – the Turkish name of ancient Nicaea. The commission has already gone there to examine the feasibility. The mayor of the city is in favour and ready to collaborate. The invitation was naturally extended to Pope Francis, and this would be their thirteenth meeting.
The Patriarch also highlighted that the Easter date is not a question of dogma or faith, but fruit of an astronomical calculation.
Pope Francis too, in his talk reiterated that “Easter does not take place by our own initiative or by one calendar or another. Easter occurred because God “so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”. Let us not forget the primacy of God, his primerear, his having taken the first step. Let us not close ourselves within our own ideas, plans, calendars, or “our” Easter. Easter belongs to Christ!”
The Pope also invites to share, plan and “walk together” and he launches an invitation: that of beginning “from Jerusalem like the Apostles, who proclaimed the message of the Resurrection to the whole world”. The Pope encourages to “turn, today, to the Prince of Peace in order to pray that he gives us his peace.”
An invitation that echoes what the ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I had already expressed by urging the PT2025 group to promote activities defending human rights and a peaceful living together for all peoples, praying in this way: “We implore the Lord to enlighten the hearts of those in authority and to guide them on the path of justice and love, that we may heal these divisions and restore the unity that is at the heart of our faith”.
Pope Francis’ latest trip to Asia and Oceania has so far been the farthest, longest and probably the most physically demanding the Pope has ever undertaken. What does this visit mean for the local communities? We asked Paul Segarra, focolarino of the Indonesian community.
Paul, what was the significance of the Pope’s visit to your country?
“This heroic gesture of the Pope is for me an image of God’s love that knows no limits and reaches out to his most distant children, who are certainly not the least-valued in his eyes. The Holy Father took the time to look at them with love, marvel at their giftedness, share their sufferings and longings for justice and peace, then encouraged them to face their challenges together and transcend their limits. But he did not only utter words that inspired and encouraged. He also demonstrated, by example, the strength in faith, the openness to fraternity and the nearness in compassion that he invites his listeners to acquire. He did this through his planned choices and spontaneous gestures, he acted and lived from the heart”.
“As news of his arrival spread quickly – Paul Segarra recounts -, there were also many comments on various social platforms about his chosen means of transport: a sober white sedan, in which he preferred to sit beside his driver, instead of taking the usual presidential back-seat, I imagined because he wanted to converse with his driver face-to-face. Seeing this gesture of his, I realised with regret that I could have done the same with the driver who brought me to my accommodations in Jakarta that same evening. But thereafter, my rides became undeniably more enjoyable, as I took to the habit of getting to know my hired drivers through friendly conversation”.
Paul, how did the local Focolare community experience this event?
“Some members of our Focolare communities in Jakarta and Yogyakarta had the privelege of participating in some of the events that were graced by the pope’s presence. At the Jakarta Cathedral (dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption) the Holy Father acknowledged the work of catechists, describing them as “bridges of the heart that unites all the islands”. We were moved as he drew our attention to a statue of the Virgin Mary, and gave her as a model of faith that welcomes everyone, even as she keeps watch over and protects the people of God as the Mother of Compassion”.
Pope Francis and Imam Umar signed the Joint Declaration. What future do you see for Christians and Muslims together after this signing?
“Tomy, one of our photographers who covered the pope’s visit to the Istiqal Mosque and endured long hours of waiting under the city-heat, was visibly touched as the Holy Father finally arrived and greeted them from his car. Assuming a discreet position just outside the entrance to the underground, pedestrian tunnel that physically connects the Great Mosque to the Cathedral across the street, he managed to capture the moment Pope Francis and High Imam Umar signed the Declaration of Fraternity in front of a small crowd of bishops, imams and other religious figures, and said he had high hopes that this visit would create true harmony between all people of faith. And what is faith, if not seeing, acting and living from the heart?
A long journey to celebrate 70 years since the creation of the General Council of Christians in Hong Kong, where just a little over 10% of the 7.5 million inhabitants profess to be Christians.
A delegation of 24 people from different Christian traditions: Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, and Pentecostal, embarked on an ecumenical pilgrimage making stops in Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, visiting cities such as Wittenberg, Augsburg, Ottmaring, Geneva, Trent, and finally Rome to review the past without prejudice and establish a new relationship among all members.“An opportunity to learn more about each other’s Church. There was so much sharing, so much love for each other, and we felt like brothers and sisters in Christ, His one Church!” ”, Theresa Kung affirms.
Welcomed at the Ecumenical Citadel in Ottmaring (Germany), at the Mariapolis “Chiara Lubich” Center in Trent (Italy) and at the International Center of the Focolare Movement in Rocca di Papa (Italy), the group got to know the charism of unity that animates the Focolare Movement and appreciate the work of dialogue between various Churches that has been taking place for years within the Movement, a “dialogue of life” in the sense that, as Rev. Hoi Hung Lin of Tsung Tsin Mission had this to say:“Respect other people’s differences in values, prioritize dialogue and always seek to establish fraternal relationships among people, among ethnic groups and in different cultural situations”.
In Rome, the group was received at the Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity in an exchange meeting on their work worldwide.
As their last event, they were received by Pope Francis in a private audience on May 22, 2024. After greetings and introductions by Cardinal Stephen Chow SJ, Catholic Bishop of Hong Kong, and Rev. Ray Wong, President of the Hong Kong Christian Council, the Holy Father addressed those present, stressing the importance of “working together, because we all believe in Jesus Christ; praying together, praying for unity.” The Pope also recalled the Christian friendship that comes from common Baptism. “We have the same Baptism and that makes us Christians. Enemies, we have many outside. We are friends! Enemies, outside; here, friends.”[1].
