We’re all friends now, sexuality doesn’t matter, and the Reformation is over, Papal Preacher tells C of E General Synod

Posted on November 25, 2015 
Filed under Church of England

raniero-cantalamessaAt last night’s Eucharist at Westminster Abbey, for the opening of the new General Synod, Franciscan Priest and Preacher to the Papal Household, Raniero Cantalamessa, delivered the sermon.

He asserted that Christians should not be divided over “a moral issue like that of sexuality”.

The issues of the Reformation are past, since we all now agree on “Justification by faith”.

Martin Luther and Thomas Cranmer would preach “Justification by Faith” this way, he said.

Students of the Reformation (or the Bible, for that matter) might like to put down that coffee cup before reading the report from the Anglican Communion News Service. Here’s an excerpt –

“The sermon was given by Father Raniero Cantalamessa, the Preacher to the Papal Household.

He raised the forthcoming 500th anniversary of the Reformation – the great divide between the Western churches. “It is vital for the whole Church that this opportunity is not wasted by people remaining prisoners of the past, trying to establish each other’s rights and wrongs,” he said. “Rather, let us take a qualitative leap forward, like what happens when the sluice gates of a river or a canal enable ships to continue to navigate at a higher water level.

“The situation has dramatically changed since [Reformation times]. We need to start again with the person of Jesus, humbly helping our contemporaries to experience a personal encounter with Him. …

“We should never allow a moral issue like that of sexuality divide us more than faith in Jesus unites us.

“Justification by faith, for example, ought to be preached by the whole Church – and with more vigour than ever. Not in opposition to good works – the issue is already settled – but rather in opposition to the claim of people today that they can save themselves thanks to their science, technology or their man-made spirituality, without the need for a redeemer coming from outside humanity. Self-justification!”

– Read the full report here. Photo credit: cantalamessa.org