text: "...went from slim to none."
  
  Yes, John Hobson -- another instance of the "triumph of experience" over hope. Now both churches are repenting in leisure, rest, and in relaxation because they really don't need each other, practically speaking. At least that is what I pick up in Germany, among Catholics. It seems the best ecumenical exchange or happening between  the Lutheran and Catholic Churches will be when the latter is deaf and the former is blind. Still, it is nice Francis, the Bishop of sunny Rome, is making an effort to be friendly, honest and fraternal, realizing part of the cure for animosity is to wish to be cured of it. He is stepping up to the plate, as it were, hoping the 21st century -- the 984 years left of it -- will bring the two churches closer together. Rome is eternal, I guess, at least in its optimism.