LWF President Bishop Younan Congratulates Newly Elected Pope Francis I

Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, newly-elected Pope of the Roman Catholic Church © Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk under Creative Commons licence non-commercial share-alike (CC-NC-SA), via Flickr

GENEVA, 14 March 2013 (LWI) – The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has greeted the newly elected leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, on his first day in office, expressing the Lutheran Communion’s joy for Catholics and urging continued dialogue with Lutherans.

The Roman Catholic College of Cardinals elected Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio on the evening of 13 March at the Vatican. The 76-year-old pontiff becomes the first head of the Roman Catholic from the global South.

“You have been elected to serve the Church at a time when Lutherans and Catholics are growing in mutual understanding and joint witness not only at the local level but also at a global level,” said the LWF President Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan and General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge in a letter today addressed to the new pontiff.

To read the rest of the article, visit the LWF website here.