Official Common Statement by the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church, with its Annex

The statement is the act by which the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification was confirmed. Its three points repeat paragraphs 40 and 41 of the declaration, refer to the questions raised by the Lutheran World Federation’s Council on 16 June 1998 and by the Catholic response of 25 June 1998, and commit both parties to further dialogue. It carries the signatures of Cardinal Edward Cassidy and Bishop Walter Kasper for the Catholic Church and of Bishop Christian Krause, the general secretary Ishmael Noko and six vice-presidents for the Lutheran World Federation.

The Annex is part of the confirmation and should be read with the declaration. It takes up the points the Catholic response had questioned: in what sense the justified person is also a sinner, the meaning of concupiscence, “faith alone”, good works and the place of the doctrine of justification as a criterion. Its last point says that the Catholic response did not intend to put in question the authority of Lutheran synods or of the federation.