President Timothy Lull of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley and Mary Carlton Lull are received by Pope John Paul II at an audience for the visiting Lutheran delegation on Monday, March 24, 2003. A member of the Vatican staff and Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson of the ELCA are in the background. The Pope’s statement of welcome to the group included his hope based on the "Joint Declaration on Justification" of 1999 for "fostering more extensively at the local level a spirituality of communion marked by prayer and shared witness to the Gospel." The Lulls, who were in Rome on a holiday, were able to join the ELCA group for two days of talks and hospitality at the Vatican including discussions about the future of Lutheran and Roman Catholic relations with Cardinal Walter Kasper of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.