Meeting in Korea in mid-July, the World Methodist Conference signed the joint declaration on justification that the Catholic Church and the World Lutheran Federation had signed in 1999. The conference, which represented 70 million Methodists around the world, also declared that "it is our deep hope that in the near future we shall also be able to enter into closer relationships with Lutherans and the Roman Catholic Church" and approved a resolution authorizing further dialogue with the Catholic Church, with the stated aim of "full communion in faith, mission and sacramental life." Lutheran and Catholic leaders praised the decision. "We have overcome a theological difference which has divided Western Christianity since the time of the Reformation," said Ishmael Noko, the general secretary of the World Lutheran Federation. Cardinal Walter Kaspar, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, called the statement "a gift from God" and "one of the principal successes of ecumenical dialogue." At a meeting with the conference's leaders, Pope Benedict XVI said that their signing the declaration "would contribute to the reconciliation that we ardently desire and would be a significant step toward the objective of full and visible unity in the faith."