Title: Document on the
Church and the sins of the past
Author:
Publication: EWTN, ZENIT
News Agency
Date: February 3, 2000
To Be Presented on Day
of Forgiveness Presided by Pope
VATICAN CITY, FEB 2 (ZENIT).-
After 3 years of work, the document that will guide Catholic pastors and
faithful in the principles underlying the Church's request for forgiveness
for errors committed by her children [???] in the past is virtually complete.
The text was requested
by the Pope himself. It is entitled "The Church and the Sins of the Past:
Remembering in Order to Reconcile". The document is the fruit of the work
of a team of members of the International Theological Commission, presided
by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
The document follows
the outline established in the Holy Father's Apostolic Letter "Tertio Millennio
Adveniente," in preparation for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000. According
to the Italian agency "Adn-Kronos," the document will be published within
the next few weeks, allowing Christians to consult it before the Pope gives
his address on the Day of Forgiveness -- the First Sunday of Lent.
Before writing the final
document, the theologians responsible for the project submitted the text
for approval on two occasions to the 30 members of the International Theological
Commission meeting in plenary session. The vote in favor of the document
was very substantial.
The text has been written
for purposes of consultation; it is not a papal document. It includes a
broad theological reflection on the meaning of purification of the memory.
There is also an explanation of the doctrinal reasons that make an act
of contrition for past sins possible, reviewing a trajectory that goes
back to biblical origins, such as the great confessions of sin before God
of the Jewish people and continuing with the principles of the Gospel.
There are many examples of historic requests for forgiveness, such as that
of Adrian VI, elected Pope in 1522, who at the time of the Reformation
asked for forgiveness for the sins of the Curia, or that of Paul VI, who
atoned for the offenses inflicted on Eastern Christians.
Recently Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger explained to "Octava Dies," a program of the Vatican Television
Center, that "the idea is not to accuse the past; we are always sinners
and we want to understand this with humility and do penance, which renews
the Church and each one."
According to declarations
by Fr. Georges Cottier, secretary of the International Theological Commission
(Cf. ZE99112611) and Theologian of the Pontifical Household, the document
makes a fundamental distinction: "the Church is holy because it receives
and communicates the holiness of Christ to humanity, although Christians
are sinners, as we are all unfaithful to Christ's grace."
We have to speak about
the past, according to Dominican Fr. Cottier, for two reasons: "the first
because the communion of saints exists, by which the Church is one through
the ages, and in the Church there is a community of charity and prayer
for sins committed. In the second place, it must be said that it is not
a question of judging people, as only God can judge persons, but when we
recall the past of the Church we realize that there have been events that
are an obstacle to evangelization. On this it is necessary to have a purification
of the memory, that is, to make a real judgment that is balanced and just."
