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The Declaration Dominus Iesus: a Brake on Ecumenism and Interfaith Dialogue?

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The Declaration Dominus Iesus: a Brake on Ecumenism and Interfaith Dialogue? 7 The Declaration Dominus Iesus: A Brake on Ecumenism and Interfaith Dialogue? BY JULIO SAVI N 5 September 2000 Joseph Cardinal arise in the practice of interreligious dialogue O Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congrega- (¶3). The document has been mostly inter- tion for the Doctrine of the Faith and the preted as proclaiming the need for Catholics highest o¹cer responsible for the theological to return to the theological position com- ideology of the Catholic Church, presented monly held before the developments in the in the Vatican Press O¹ce a Declaration of ecumenical movement during the last thirty that Congregation entitled “Dominus Iesus: years: that Christianity is unique among on the unicity and the salvi³c universality of religions as the repository of divinely revealed Jesus Christ and the Church.” The Declara- truth and that Catholicism and its ecclesias- tion bears his signature, but Pope John Paul tical institutions are the authoritative inter- II had rati³ed and con³rmed it “with sure preters of that truth. It certainly calls for knowledge and by his apostolic authority [certa Catholics to pull back from theories inspired scientia et apostolica Sua auctoritate]” (¶23) by theological relativism and religious plural- and had ordered its publication.1 ism. The response of other religionists and The thirty-six-page Dictum, completed interested parties, within and outside Chris- after two years of study by a large group of tianity, was universally and emphatically nega- theologians, consists of an introduction, six tive, labeling the document a return to a kind brief sections, and a conclusion. Addressed of fundamentalist thinking that, if accepted, to “Bishops, theologians, and all the Catholic could mean the demise of ecumen-ism. What faithful,” it recalls “certain indispensable el- follows analyzes the contents of the Decla- ements of Christian doctrine” to help its ration, summarizes world opinion, and com- addressees answer “new questions” that may pares the positions expressed in the docu- ment with those found in the Bahá’í teachings. After the presentation by Cardinal Rat- zinger, Monsignor Tarcisio Bertone, secre- tary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Copyright © 2001 by Julio Savi. I wish to thank the the Faith, explained that “the Document . World Order editors for their kind encouragement and rea¹rms and summarizes the doctrine of precious assistance. Catholic faith de³ned and taught in earlier 1. Dominus Iesus contains an introduction, six chap- documents of the Church’s Magisterium; and ters, and a conclusion. The paragraphs in the chapters are numbered sequentially from 1 through 23. Passages it indicates the correct interpretation thereof from the Declaration are cited in the text by paragraph in the face of doctrinal errors and ambigu- number. ities that have become widespread in modern Reprinted from World Order, 32.2 (Winter 2000–2001): 7–24 8 WORLD ORDER: WINTER 2000–01 theological and ecclesial circles.”2 Issued by be true for others; the radical opposition an institution inferior to the Pope and to the posited between the logical mentality of College of Bishops in communion with the the West and the symbolic mentality of Pope, the Declaration is not an infallible the East; the subjectivism which regards document. But, as it was rati³ed by the Pope reason as the only source of knowledge; with a formula of exceptional authority, “the the metaphysical emptying of the mystery assent required from the faithful,” according of incarnation; the eclecticism of those to Monsignor Bertone, “is de³nitive and irre- who, in theological research, uncritically vocable.”3 Thus the document needs to be absorb ideas from a variety of philosophi- read carefully and fully understood. cal and theological contexts without re- gard for consistency, systematic connec- Its Contents tion, or compatibility with Christian truth; DOMINUS IESUS holds that at the close of the ³nally, the tendency to read and to inter- second Christian millennium, the evangeliz- pret Sacred Scripture outside the Tradi- ing mission of the Catholic Church is not tion and Magisterium of the Church.4 only “still far from complete (cf. John Paul These theories, he said, imply the denial of II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 1: some fundamental verities of the Church, AAS 83 [1991], 249–340),” it is also endan- such as: gered, within the Church itself, by theories the de³nitive and complete character of inspired by the theological relativism and the revelation of Jesus Christ, the nature religious pluralism espoused by some uphold- of Christian faith as compared with that ers of the ecumenical movement and con- of belief in other religions, the inspired ceived to justify religious pluralism “not only nature of the books of Sacred Scripture, de facto but also de jure (or in principle)”(¶4). the personal unity between the Eternal In presenting the Declaration at the Septem- Word and Jesus of Nazareth, the unity of ber 2000 press conference Cardinal Ratzinger the economy of the Incarnate Word and summarized these theories as being: the Holy Spirit, the unicity and salvi³c the conviction of the elusiveness and in- universality of the mystery of Jesus Christ, expressibility of divine truth; relativistic the universal salvi³c mediation of the attitudes toward truth itself, which would Church, the inseparability—while recog- hold that what is true for some would not nizing the distinction—of the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Christ, and the Church, and the subsistence of the one Church of Christ in the Catholic Church. 2. Intervention of Monsignor Tarcisio Bertone, sec- (¶4) retary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the To clarify such claimed errors, the Declara- Faith, Press Conference for the presentation of the tion itself rea¹rms concisely the o¹cial doc- Declaration Dominus Iesus, the Holy See press room, 5 trine of the Catholic Church on six funda- September 2000 (hereafter referred to as “Press Confer- mental issues. ence.” The Italian text of the Press Conference may be retrieved from the website <http://www.vatican. The Fullness and De³nitiveness of the Rev- va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/ elation of Jesus Christ. Chapter 1 of Dominus rc_con_cfaith_doc_2000905_dominus-iesus_ Iesus denies the conception whereby “the truth ratzinger_it.html>. about God cannot be grasped and mani- 3. Intervention of Monsignor Bertone, Press Con- ference. fested in its globality and completeness by 4. Intervention of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Press any historical religion, neither by Christian- Conference. ity nor by Jesus Christ” (¶6), and con³rms THE DECLARATION DOMINUS IESUS 9 that Jesus’ revelation is full and de³nitive. It deemer” (¶11), and that there is no salvation is not complementary to that of other reli- if not through him. gions; rather, it is de³nitive, and there will While commenting upon the Christological be no future revelation before Christ’s mani- contents of the Declaration during the Sep- festation in the glory of the Father. tember 2000 press conference at the Vatican, The reasons for the two positions, the the Salesian Reverend Angelo Amato, secre- Declaration explains, are, ³rst, that faith in tary of the Ponti³cal Academy of Theology Jesus, de³ned as “the acceptance in grace of and consultant to the Congregation for the revealed truth,” is quite di²erent from “be- Doctrine of the Faith, explained that Domi- lief in the other religions,” de³ned as “that nus Iesus upholds the unicity of the salvi³c sum of experience and thought that consti- economy of the Incarnate Word and the Holy tutes the human treasury of wisdom and Spirit and refutes three erroneous theses upheld religious aspiration, which man in his search by relativists “in order to give theological for truth has conceived and acted upon in his foundations to religious pluralism.” The ³rst relationship to God and the Absolute (John of these erroneous theses claims that Jesus is Paul II, Encyclical Letter Fides et ratio, 31– “one of many historic-salvi³c incarnations of 32).” The former is “the acceptance of the the eternal Word and his revelation of the truth revealed by the One and Triune God”— divine was not exclusive, but complementary that is, the one God, Who is also the tripar- to other historical ³gures.” Conversely, the tite God: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; the Reverend Amato said, the Declaration states latter is “religious experience still in search of that Jesus alone is the incarnation of the the absolute truth and still lacking assent to Word. The second erroneous thesis “supposes God who reveals himself” (¶7). Second, only a double salvi³c economy, that of the Eternal the Books of the Old and New Testaments Word as distinct from that of the Incarnate are of divine origin and, therefore, are teach- Word.” The Declaration rejects this distinc- ers of the truth. The scriptures of the other tion and rea¹rms that “[i]f there are ele- religions simply “receive from the mystery of ments of salvation and grace outside Chris- Christ the elements of goodness and grace tianity, they have their source and center in which they contain” (¶8). the mystery of the incarnation of the Word The Incarnate Logos and the Holy Spirit in [that is, in Jesus].” The third erroneous thesis the Work of Salvation. Chapter 2 of Dominus “separates the economy of the Holy Spirit Iesus refutes the theory whereby “Jesus would from that of the Incarnate Word: the former be one of the many faces which the Logos would be of a more universal character than [the Word of God] has assumed in the course the latter.” However, the Declaration con³rms of time to communicate with humanity in a that “[t]here is but one trinitarian divine econ- salvi³c way” (¶9).
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