wfn.org | Vatican declares only the Roman Catholic Church brings salvation

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Note #6183 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

7-September-2000
00321

Vatican declares only the Roman Catholic Church brings salvation

‘Infallible teaching' decries relativism, calls all other churches
‘defective'

by Peggy Polk
Religion News Service

Vatican City -- In a declaration carrying the full authority of an
infallible teaching, the Vatican said 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.
	The 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 control, 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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