Pope Denies Protestants Are Church
Full identity in Christ only in Catholicism. Storm over document approved by
Benedict XVI
VATICAN CITY - Christ "established here on earth" only one Church that has its
full identity only in the Catholic Church, since every other Church or
ecclesiastical community lacks something with respect to that identity. This is
the import of a document released yesterday by the Vatican's Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith, provoking alarm and protests from Orthodox and
Protestant Christians.
The document itself, signed by the prefect of the Congregation, Cardinal
William Levada, and approved by Benedict XVI, comprises only six pages and is
entitled Responses to some questions regarding certain aspects of the doctrine
on the Church.
In it are five responses which taken together comprise a reassurance -
addressed to the traditionalist movement, particularly the Lefebvrians, one is
tempted to say - that the Second Vatican Council did not revolutionise the
doctrine on the Church but instead "developed, deepened and more fully
explained it". The first question is: "Did the Second Vatican Council change
the Catholic doctrine on the Church?"
All five questions revolve around this statement in the Council document Lumen
Gentium (1964): "The one church of Christ... subsists in the Catholic Church".
The previous doctrine, for example Pius XII in the encyclical Mystici Corporis
(1943), said "is". Why then has identity become subsistence? And what does the
word mean?
The document says that subsistence signifies permanence, historical continuity
and full identity. In changing the language, the Council did not intend to
relinquish the claim that the Catholic Church is the one true Church of Christ.
Instead, it wanted to "bring out more clearly the fact that outside her
structure there are numerous elements of sanctification and of truth".
The response published yesterday, which reformulates what was already contained
in the 2000 declaration Dominus Jesus signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, is
clearer if we remember that the Council's term "subsists" is invoked by
progressive theologians, including Leonardo Boff who is mentioned by name, to
affirm that the one church can also subsist in other Churches, and contested by
the Lefebvrians who deny the possibility.
The Lefebvrians are not mentioned in the document but a 2004 study by them,
From Ecumenism to Apostasy, ascribed to the Second Vatican Council's expression
responsibility for rendering "ill defined" the "contours" of the Church. We are
left with the impression that the document is a second hand held out to the
traditionalist movement after the motu proprio rescript on the pre-Second
Vatican Council mass published last Saturday.
Again reaffirming positions that were already known, yesterday's document
explains that the "title of Church" should be used for the Orthodox Churches
but not Protestant ones. While the Orthodox lack communion with the Bishop of
Rome, they share the priesthood and the Eucharist with the Catholic Church. In
contrast, Protestants do not have a sacramental priesthood and "have not
preserved the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic Mystery". The
Reformation did not produce Churches but "ecclesial Communities".
As was the case in 2000, the responses yesterday provoked loud protests from
the Patriarchate of Moscow ("We are not in agreement"), the Egyptian Coptic
church ("It wounds the sensibilities of the Orthodox and Protestant Churches"),
the World Alliance of Reformed Churches ("We are puzzled"), the Community of
Protestant Churches in Europe ("A monopolistic idea of Christianity and an
attack on the identity of others") and the Federation of Evangelical Churches
in Italy ("A considerable step backwards in relations with other Christian
communities").
Luigi Accattoli
English translation by Giles Watson
www.watson.it
11 luglio 2007
http://www.corriere.it/english/articoli/2007/07_Luglio/11/pezzo.shtml
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