Chicago Tribune | Nicole Winfield | July 10, 2007
LORENZAGO DI CADORE, Italy — Pope Benedict XVI reasserted the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says other Christian communities are either defective or not true churches and Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation.
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The document said that Orthodox churches were indeed “churches” because they have apostolic succession and enjoyed “many elements of sanctification and of truth.” But it said they do not recognize the primacy of the pope — a defect, or a “wound” that harmed them, it said.
The statement brought swift criticism from Protestant leaders. “It makes us question whether we are indeed praying together for Christian unity,” said the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, a fellowship of 75 million Protestants in more than 100 countries.
“It makes us question the seriousness with which the Roman Catholic Church takes its dialogues with the reformed family and other families of the church,” the group said in a letter charging that the document took ecumenical dialogue back to the era before the Second Vatican Council.
It was the second time in a week that Benedict has corrected what he says are erroneous interpretations of the Second Vatican Council, the 1962-1965 meetings that modernized the church. On Saturday, Benedict revived the old Latin Mass — a move cheered by Catholic traditionalists but criticized by more liberal ones as a step backward from Vatican II.
Among the council’s key developments were its ecumenical outreach and the development of the New Mass in the vernacular, which essentially replaced the old Latin Mass.
Benedict, who attended Vatican II as a young theologian, has long complained about what he considers its erroneous interpretation by liberals, saying it was not a break from the past but rather a renewal of church tradition.
So is the only dialogue Rome wants from other churches is “mea culpa”?
JBL: Why are Benedict’s claims surprising? Don’t the Orthodox make identical claims? Everyone was hoping for a more conservative Pope. Well, we got one as evidenced by his stronger pronouncements on the primacy of the Catholic Church and his desire to revive the Latin traditions.
I’m with James — I don’t see why, or in what respect, this should surprise any Orthodox Christian. We make the same claim of the Holy Orthodox Church, that she alone possesses the fullness of Christian faith, worship, and tradition, and that all other confessions, while containing various elements of the truth, are tragically separated from the “one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.”
I think, if anything, this confirms the futility that is the ecumenical movement, and should serve as a reminder to all Orthodox that what the Vatican wants isn’t unity rooted in the Apostolic Faith, but subjection to heretical papal claims of authority.
Usually statements like this come out when some kind of major event between different churches is in the cards. I wonder if a meeting between Moscow and Rome is going to be announced.
JBL: It has always been the RCC position. Nothing I have ever seen from either John Paul or Benedict has been any different. Why should it be, how can it be? The Roman interpretation of Papal Supremacy defines the entire RCC. If Papal Supremacy is not maintained, there is no RCC.
Personally, I’m glad. This declaration makes it less likely that our bishops will compromise where they should not.
James is right. The 1848 Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs is abundantly clear on what the Church thinks of the RCC belief.
I frankly have never understood all of the time and energy wasted on “unity” when there is no intent on anyone’s part, Orthodox, RCC, or Protestant, to change anything. Without recognition of error and repentance “unity” amounts to nothing more than getting around a campfire, eating smores and singing Kumbaya at best. At worst, someone is selling out their principals and beliefs.
Fr. Hans predicted correctly: “Pope Benedict and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy may hold a historic meeting within a year, Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Vatican’s department for Christian Unity, was quoted as saying yesterday.
It would be the first meeting between a Pope and Russian Orthodox patriarch. The Western and Eastern branches of Christianity have been split since the Great Schism of 1054.”
Of course, one wonders what to expect from such a meeting given the general tone of his last pronouncement.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=9637
I hope both would recognize that there can be no true unity without repentance and since neither side sees any reason to repent from the essential doctrines that divide us, there is no possibility for unity. What other things can we do with each other?
It will mostly be a photo op – a chance for the bishops to be “relevant” in the media. Of course, the ecumenists will grasp at the announced “special commission on theological dialogue” where, several years from now, a 83 page report will be produced that will be read by less than 83 people…;)
What did I tell ya? Now, the next looming issue is who travels where. I can’t see Aleksi going to Rome, but I can see Benedict going to Moscow after a stop in Ukraine first (maybe even an extensive European tour).
Actually, I know how it can work. Moscow and Rome are agreed that secularism has sapped the spiritual strength of Europe and that any restoration and turning back of the Muslim tide requires a return to its cultural roots. This is a strong area of agreement. This may be the theme of the visit. Moscow will never accept Rome’s claims, Rome knows this, so get it off the table early. Then move on to the more pressing theme.