He said the call to unity is for all Christians, not only members of the WCC, and affirmed his commitment to working with Christian traditions still outside the WCC fold, including the Roman Catholic Church, Pentecostals, Evangelicals and charismatics. The Global Christian Forum, he said, was one opportunity for leaders of different Christian communities and churches to speak together.
Turning specifically to the WCC’s relations with the Roman Catholic Church, Tveit said he hoped the two could develop structural and personal relationships “that will be of benefit for all of us” but refused to be drawn on the question of the Roman Catholic Church becoming a member.
“I don’t want to comment on the membership of the Roman Catholic Church in the WCC at this point but it is important to say that there are many ways for us to work together and some of them we already have and they can be strengthened and we can find new ways also,” he said.
Tveit also stressed the importance of fostering good relations between the WCC and Muslim leaders.
It is important, he said, that Muslims and Christians see one another “not primarily as this or that, but as human beings needing safety, needing their rights to be taken care of, and also just regular love and acceptance between us as human beings.Our faiths call us to that whether we are Jews, Muslims, Christians or whatever,” he said.