Author: Philip Pullella
Publication: Reuters
Date: September 5, 2000
VATICAN CITY (Reuters)
- The Vatican Tuesday rejected the concept that other religions could be
equal to Roman Catholicism and ordered its theologians not to manipulate
what it called the truth of the faith.
The Vatican's restatement
of its position was outlined in a complex theological document, the English
title of which was "Declaration The Lord Jesus -- On the Unicity and Salvific
Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church."
The document repeated
Church teachings that non- Christians were in a "gravely deficient situation"
regarding salvation and that other Christian churches had "defects," partly
because they did not recognize the primacy of the Pope.
The 36-page document,
which was bound to spark fresh debate, was prepared by the Vatican's Congregation
of the Doctrine of the Faith and approved by Pope John Paul.
It said the clarification
and restatement of the official Catholic position was necessary to contest
"relativistic theories which seek to justify religious pluralism" as a
principle rather than a de facto practice.
Revelation Of Christ
It said only the revelation
of Jesus Christ was "definitive and complete." Asserting that Christian
revelation could be complementary to that found in other religions was
"contrary to the Church's faith."
The document was addressed
primarily to Catholic theologians but it appeared destined to spark dialogue
on all levels with other Christian Churches and with non-Christians.
At a news conference
to present the document, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's doctrinal
head, said some theologians were "manipulating and going beyond the limits"
of tolerance when they put all religions on the same plane.
Ratzinger said this did
not reflect what he called "an objective and universal truth."
Walking a theological
tightrope, the document said the "Church of Christ" was present and operative
in other Christian Churches today.
But, in the Vatican's
view, it subsists fully in the Roman Catholic Church because the Pope is
the successor to St Peter, whom Christ named as his first vicar on Earth.
Papal primacy was divinely willed, it said.
"Therefore, there exists
a single Church of Christ, which subsists in the Catholic Church, governed
by the Successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him," it
said.
"Defects" Of Other Churches
Some other Christian
churches, while not in "perfect union," remained united to Catholics by
close bonds, it said.
"The Church of Christ
is present and operative also in these Churches, even though they lack
full communion with the Catholic Church since they do not accept the Catholic
doctrine of the primacy, which, according to the will of God, (the Pope)
objectively has and exercises over the entire Church," it said.
While other Christian
churches "suffer from defects," the document said they had not been deprived
of what it called "significance and importance in the mystery of salvation."
But it was the Catholic
Church which possessed and had been entrusted with "the fullness of grace
and truth."
It said because Christ
was the Son of God, non- Christians were at a disadvantage regarding salvation.
"The 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...a religious relativism
which leads to the belief that 'one religion is as good as another'," it
said.
"If it is true that 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."
