For the second time within a month a document from the Vatican has caused the international community to react with considerable energy.

The first document was theApostolicLetter, Summorum Pontificum concerning the 1962 Latin Missal thatwas issued motu proprio by Pope Benedict XVI.

The second document, “Responses to some questions regarding certain aspects of the Doctrine on the Church.” was issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Holy Father approved the document for publication.

Once again the secular media sensationalised the message of the document. As a result people were confused by the media reports. One point became clear during the international reaction: although most people are not interested in technical theological issues, when the conclusions from these technical theological issues are stated and affect people’s lives on a practical level, the people become interested and react. The public observations on the document from the Doctrinal Congregation were both positive and negative.

Two pre-notes

1) When the Apostolic Letter on the Latin Mass was published in early July, I used my column to try to explain the issue and clarify the confusion. I shall attempt to do the same in this week’s column regarding the document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

2) Since there are so many religious traditions in Trinidad and Tobago, the issues addressed in the document have a special relevance. The data that has surfaced on the Internet since the publication of the document indicates that there are now more than 28,000 different Christian churches throughout the world.

Obviously, this was not the mind of Christ when he established the Church. The document has touched a nerve among some within the Catholic Church and many Christians who are not in full communion with the Catholic Church.

Some history

There is really nothing new in the recent document. The traditional debate whether all religions may be considered as equally valid ways of striving for salvation arose again due to the questions that have surfaced throughout the world and also in the Church about the relationship of the Catholic Church to other religions and in particular to other Christian traditions.

On August 6, 2000, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a declaration called Dominus Jesus (The Lord Jesus). The Declaration was concerned about the fact that the traditional debate about the equal validity of all religions was being complicated by an issue extrinsic to the debate itself, namely, relativism.

Relativism means that there is no absolute truth and that truth and values are all determined by particular historical periods, cultures and persons.

The application of relativism to the debate means that what is true for some people is not true for others. In contrast, the Catholic Church rejects relativism and teaches there is absolute truth and all humanity is bound to seek the truth and, once it is found, to live by the truth. 

The Declaration also spoke to the modern tendency to believe that human reason is the only source of knowledge. It also responded to the contemporary predisposition to interpret Sacred Scripture outside the Tradition and outside the Magisterium (the teaching authority of the Church).

Dominus Jesus was written to respond to all these issues. It addressed six points:
1) The Revelation of Jesus about the mystery of God is complete and definitive (there is no further revelation coming) even if the depth of that mystery in itself is inexhaustible;

2) The mystery of the incarnation, death and resurrection is the sole and universal source of salvation for all humanity;

3) To believe that there is salvation beyond the unique and universal mediation of Jesus is in error and contrary to the Catholic Faith. People who seek God in good faith can be saved. Their salvation flows from the merits of Christ whether they are aware of it or not. 

4) There is an historical continuity between the Church founded by Christ and the Catholic Church although there are many elements of truth and sanctification outside the structure of the Catholic Church;

5) The Kingdom of God, which we know from revelation, cannot be detached from Christ or from the Church. If the kingdom is separated from Jesus, it is no longer the kingdom of God which he revealed;

6) The Church has a deep respect for other religions and a willingness to dialogue with other religious traditions, but rejects the mentality of indifferentism i.e. that one religion is as good as another.

The 2007 document

What is especially interesting about the new document is that it was published just seven years after Dominus Jesus. The source of concern in the new document is not the philosophical issue of relativism but the theological issue of inaccurate ecclesiology, namely, the incorrect interpretations of the Second Vatican Council’s teaching on the Church.

These interpretations have caused confusion and doubt. The goal of the document is to explain the authentic meaning of conciliar terminology and its ecumenical significance.

The document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is only four pages long. Dominus Jesus was 30 pages long. It contains responses to five specific questions. It was accompanied by a five- page authoritative commentary which was shared with the bishops of the world.

A summary of the responses to the five questions is listed below:
1) Vatican Council II did not change the Catholic doctrine on the Church, it only developed, deepened and more fully explained it. The teaching is now put together in one clear formulation. This response was confirmed in the teachings of Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II.

2) Christ established here on earth only one Church and instituted it as a visible and spiritual community that from its beginning and throughout the centuries has always existed and will always exist and in which alone are found all the elements that Christ himself instituted. While there are elements of truth and sanctification in the Churches and ecclesial communities not yet fully in communion with the Catholic Church, the one Church founded by Christ subsists in the Catholic Church.

3) The words “subsists in” were used rather than “is” by Vatican Council II to bring out more clearly that there are numerous elements of truth and sanctification which are found outside the structure of the Catholic Church but which, as gifts properly belonging to the Church of Christ, impel these Churches and ecclesial communities toward Catholic unity.

4) Vatican Council II used the term “Church” for oriental Churches separated from full communion with the Catholic Church because these Churches have the sacraments and apostolic succession. However, since they are not in full communion with the Successor of Peter they remain to that degree separated from the Catholic Church.

5) The Catholic Church does not use the term “Church” for the Christian Communities born out of the 16th century Reformation because they lack apostolic succession in the sacrament of Orders and therefore “have not presented the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic mystery.”

Conclusion

For those in ecumenical leadership who reacted with intense negativity to the document containing the responses to the five questions, Cardinal Kasper, the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, recommends a peaceful second and third reading.

Most ecumenical leaders, including the Eastern Rite Church still separated from Rome, welcomed the document because it stated the heart of the ecumenical agenda clearly.

Cardinal Kasper, stated, “The document from the Doctrinal Congregation is an invitation to dialogue. Dialogue presupposes clarity on differing positions.”

The document from the Doctrinal Congregation also spoke to the members of the Catholic community who may have been operating in good faith on technical misunderstandings of the teaching of Vatican Council II.

The document calls them to a greater precision of theological understanding about the nature of the Catholic Church and a greater fidelity to its traditional ecclesiology.