Catholics and Protestants Unite Politically

Pope Francis needs to lead the world in confronting radical Islam, said the leader of approximately 600 million Protestants. Thomas Schirrmacher, chief theologian for the World Evangelical Alliance, declared this in an interview published Nov. 5, 2015. A significant push toward this movement started at the three-week-long family Synod of the Catholic Church in October 2015. Dr. Schirrmacher was among the 270 cardinals, bishops and experts attending the assembly. Die Welt reported that Pope Francis and Schirrmacher had in-depth discussions throughout the three-week synod.

Schirrmacher said that they discussed having a closer cooperation in family politics, as well as a decisive approach against the persecution of Christians in the Middle East.

The discussions last fall appear to be bringing forth fruit. In their Easter messages, theologians of both the Catholic and Protestant churches called for more commitment in the refugee crisis. Reinhard Marx, president of the Catholic German Bishops’ Conference, asked: “When will the peoples of Europe, Russia and America finally gather to do everything to put the wars in the Middle East to an end?”

Schirrmacher’s and Pope Francis’s efforts have evidently not been in vain. Both churches now voice the same message: Merkel’s refugee policy has to change, the violence in the Middle East needs to end, and the persecution of thousands of Christians can’t be tolerated.

As history and prophecy show, a political system is often driven by a religious ideology. Today, we see the churches in Europe uniting under papal leadership. Soon religious involvement in politics will increase even more.

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