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Vatican Declares: Only the Roman Catholic Church Brings
Salvation
By PEGGY POLK
c. 2000 Religion News
Service
VATICAN CITY -- In a declaration carrying the full authority of an
infallible teaching, the Vatican said Tuesday (Sept. 5) the Roman Catholic
Church is the only "instrument for the salvation of all
humanity."
The 36-page "Declaration Dominus
Iesus" ("On the Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ and the
Church'') expressed "sincere respect'' for other religions but attacked
"religious relativism which leads to the belief that one religion is as
good as another."
"If it is true that the followers of other religions can
receive divine grace, it is also certain that objectively speaking they
are in a gravely deficient situation in comparison with those who, in
the church, have the fullness of the means of salvation," the Vatican
said of non-Christian religions. It called non-Catholic Christian bodies
"defective.'' Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued the document at a
Vatican news conference as part of what appeared to be an ongoing but
urgent effort by the Vatican to reassert traditional Catholic doctrine.
Ratzinger said in a recent letter to bishops' conferences
throughout the world that the Catholic Church is the "mother" of all
Christian churches, and told them to stop referring to the Orthodox,
Anglican and Protestant churches as "sister" churches.
And on
Sunday (Sept. 3), Pope John Paul II beatified Pope Pius IX, a conservative
19th century pontiff who proclaimed the doctrines of papal infallibility
and the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary but also fought the
unification of Italy, restricted religious freedom and locked Rome's Jews
into a ghetto. John Paul held up his predecessor's spiritual virtues for
"imitation and veneration."
Tuesday's declaration raised concern
among other churches.
In London, Archbishop of Canterbury George
Carey, spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, called
Ratzinger's statements "unjustified'' and said they did "not reflect the
deep comprehension that has been reached (by Catholics and Anglicans)
through ecumenical dialogue and cooperation during the past 30
years."
"Of course," Carey added, "the Church of England and the
worldwide Anglican Communion does not for one moment accept that its
orders of ministry and Eucharist are deficient in any way. It believes
itself to be a part of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of
Christ, in whose name it serves and bears witness, here and round the
world."
In Geneva, the World Council of Churches warned that the
growth of ecumenical dialogue could be "hindered -- or even damaged" by
what it called "language which precludes further discussion of the
issues.''
But Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore, a leader in the
Catholic Church's dialogue with both the Orthodox churches and the Jews,
said Ratzinger's pronouncement is ``in full accord with what Vatican II
has said.''
Keeler, who attended the Vatican news conference, said
he did not Expect the new declaration to have a negative effect on
ecumenical and interfaith dialogue.
In England, in an exercise in
damage limitation, Archbishop Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster,
chairman of the department of mission and unity of the Catholic bishops'
conference of England and Wales, said the new document ``does not attempt
to change the teaching of the Catholic Church regarding
ecumenism.''
He said its main purpose was to warn against a
tendency to regard all religions as equivalent and it was written
principally for Catholic bishops and theologians.
"Certainly no slight is intended by its comments regarding
other Christian communities," he said. "As Christians we share a common
baptism, and the Catholic Church believes this brings us all into a
real, if imperfect, communion. This was made clear in the documents of
the Second Vatican Council, where it said that other Christians `with
good reason are accepted as our brothers and sisters."'
Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, secretary of Ratzinger's
congregation, Said the document carried the full authority of
infallibility because it was "explicitly approved and confirmed by the
pope." He said the pope had indicated it was "his will that what it
contains be believed by all the church."
Like Ratzinger's previous
letter, the declaration has been sent to all bishops' conferences for
distribution throughout Catholic dioceses worldwide.
"With the
coming of the Savior Jesus Christ, God has willed that the church founded
by him be the instrument for the salvation of all humanity," the
declaration said.
"This truth of faith does not lessen the sincere respect
which the church has for the religions of the world, but at the same
time, it rules out, in a radical way, that mentality of indifferentism
characterized by a religious relativism which leads to the belief that
one religion is as good as another," it said. At the same
time, the declaration gave a special status to the Orthodox churches,
saying that "the church of Christ is present and operative also'' in them
although they are not in full communion with the Catholic Church and do
not accept the doctrine of papal primacy.
Referring to the
Anglican and Protestant churches, the document said,
"The ecclesial communities which have not preserved valid
episcopate and the genuine and integral substance of the eucharistic
mystery are not churches in the proper sense." But, it said,
"those who are baptized in these communities are, by baptism, incorporated
in Christ and thus are in a certain communion, albeit imperfect, with the
church."
While accusing religious relativists of manipulating
religious tolerance, Ratzinger denied the declaration was intended to
impinge on freedom of religion.
"The principle of tolerance as an expression of the respect
for freedom of conscience, thought and religion, defended and promoted
by the Second Vatican Council and put forward again by this declaration,
is a fundamental ethical position present in the essence of the
Christian credo," he said.
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