From Rupture to Rapture: A Timeline

Lest you be caught unawares, gentle reader, when 2017 rolls around and you witness the Catholic Pope joined in prayer with Protestant Lutheran ministers in an ecumenical service at St. Peter's Basilica to commemorate the 500 year anniversary of the Protestant Schism Difference of Opinion - and you will - observe the following timeline. It documents the half-century of steady, largely unnoticed work conducted by the luminaries of the ecumenical movement to accomplish what the Fathers of the Council of Trent were apparently far too "Pharisaical" to do: to realize how wonderful heresy can be. The documents produced during each phase can be viewed by clicking the titles.

• Preparatory Phase (1965-1967)
• 1965 - (August 25th) Representatives of the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation meet in Strasbourg, France to lay the foundation for a new ecumenical body.
• 1965 - (December 8th) The Second Vatican Council ends.
• 1967 - First Official Report of the Joint Working Group
• Phase I (1967-1972)
• 1972 - The Gospel and the Church, a.k.a. "The Malta Report"
• Phase II (1973-1984)
• 1978 - The Eucharist
• 1980 - All Under One Christ
• 1980 - Ways to Communion
• 1981 - The Ministry in the Church
• 1983 - Martin Luther: Witness to Jesus Christ
• 1984 - Facing Unity: Catholic-Lutheran Church Fellowship
• Phase III (1986-1993)
• 1993 - Church and Justification
• Phase IV (1995-2006)
• 1997 - Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (Draft)
• 1999 - Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification
• 2006 - The Apostolicity of the Church
• Phase V (2009 – Present and Beyond)
• 2012 - From Conflict to Communion (Details the 2017 Joint Commemoration)
• 2017 - Joint Commemoration of 500 years of Protestantism

Who was President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity from 2001 to 2011, you ask? 

His Eminence Walter Cardinal Kasper

Surprised? Any more than to learn that this project was well underway before Vatican II had even been concluded?