Pope says Salvationists and Catholics meet at peripheries of society

In a first private audience in the Vatican with a Salvation Army General on Friday, Pope Francis said theological differences do not impede the witness of a shared love of God and neighbour.

He also spoke of his first encounter, as a 4-year old, with Salvation Army officers which, he said, stirred in him a sense of ecumenical outreach beyond the teachings of the Catholic Church in that era.

Greeting warmly a delegation led by General André Cox, the Pope said Catholics and Salvationists, together with other Christians, recognise that those in need have a special place in God’s heart – so much so, that the Lord himself became poor for our sake. As a result, the Pope said, Catholics and Salvationists often meet at the same peripheries of society.

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