German Catholics stressed the importance of co-operation with members of other denominations and faiths at the annual conference of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK).
On the final day of the meeting in the central city of Erfurt, ZdK president Irme Stetter-Karp said the gathering had been equivalent to a "revolution" in paving the way for ecumenical co-operation.
Protestants, Muslims, Jews and secular people were invited to participate in the event, she said. Catholic conferences would in future be measured by this "ecumenical perspective," she said.
Georg Bätzing, head of the German Catholic Bishops' Conference, also described the event as an "ecumenical Catholic conference."
Bätzing noted that the head of the council of German Protestant churches had participated for the full five days. "For me, that is a strong signal of connectedness," he stated.
Protestant representatives were involved in the preparation of the conference, which sold some 20,000 full tickets, plus a further 3,000 day tickets. Open air events drew a total of 40,000 people over the five days, the organizers estimate.
The conference was briefly disrupted by a climate protest during an event with Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday.
