Durham E-Theses Letters of Pope Paul VI and pope John Paul II concerning the veneration of the virgin Mary: a study in ecumenical development De Trana, Mary Ann How to cite: De Trana, Mary Ann (1991) Letters of Pope Paul VI and pope John Paul II concerning the veneration of the virgin Mary: a study in ecumenical development, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/6162/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Mary Ann De Trana Letters of Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II Concerning the Veneration of the Virgin Mary: A Study in Ecumenical Development Master of Arts in Theology 1991 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. · 2 1 APR 1992 ABSTRACT Mary Ann De Trana Letters of Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II Concerning the Veneration of the Virgin Mary: A Study in Ecumenical Development M.A.-- 1991 As seen from the outside, the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Churches appear to have many things in common. Among these is the veneration of the Virgin Mary, which is part of their common heritage of over 1000 years, though the Orthodox would insist that there are important differences between Roman Catholic and Orthodox Mariology. Serious ecumenical contacts and discussions between the Church of Rome and other Churches have only begun in the last thirty to forty years, and this thesis examines letters of Pope Paul VI and John Paul II on Marian doctrine, written during the period of increasing communication The theme focuses on the ecumenical implication of these documents, as well as their change in emphasis on the part of the Papacy. From Pope John XXIII's first opening the doors to ecumenism, the Bishops of Rome have become progressively more interested in, or conscious of, the ecumenical implications of their statements on Mary. At the same time, there has been a considerable shift in interest on the part of the Papacy, changing from talking about the Western Churches, to a grand strategy which exercises an approach to the Oithodox Churches from their common heritage of the Virgin Mary. Letters of Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul IT Concerning the Veneration of the Virgin Mary: A Study in Ecumenical Development by Mary Ann De Trana A Thesis submitted in the Department of Theology for the degree of Master of Arts in the University of Durham University of Durham 1991 © The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published with out his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ............................................................................................................................. i Forward ............................................................................................................................ v Abbreviations ................................................................................................................. vi Chapter 1 Introduction: The Advent of Pope John XXIII.. ..................................... 1 PART I: THE LETTERS OF POPE PAUL VI (1963- 1974) 2 The Early Letters ( 1965-1966) .............................................................. 17 3 First Rays of Ecumenical Dawn (1967-1973) ....................................... 27 4 Maria/is Cultus (1974) ......................................................................... .45 PART II: THE LETTERS OF POPE JOHN PAUL II (1978- 1988) 5 Three Letters on the Holy Trinity (1979-1986) ..................................... 72 6 The Eastern Horizon (1981-1985) ......................................................... 83 7 Redemptoris Mater (1987) .................................................................... 96 8 Pope John Paul II and the Orthodox Churches (1987-1988) ............... 121 9 Conc1usion ........................................................................................... 140 DETACHED NOTES A: The Rosary ..................................................................................... 148 B: The Copts: The Ecumenical Initiatives of Pope Shenouda ill of Alexandria ................................................................................. 150 C: The Union of Brest (1596) ............................................................ 154 Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 158 FORWARD I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my tutor, Dr. John McHugh, for his guidance and encouragement in this study, and to my husband and our sons, for their patience and support while I was doing this work. As there are significant differences between British and American styles of punctuation, I have chosen to follow the American style, outlined in The Chicago Manual of Style, thirteenth edition. v ABBREVIATIONS In order to avoid unnecessary footnotes, each document will be referred to by its Latin title in the first reference to it. Thereafter, any references to that document within the chapter where it is the principal subject discussed will be indicated merely by the section number. For example, "Redemptoris Mater, section 4," would be simply "§4." In a few cases, where the material cited has not been given section numbers in the original, the citation will use a page number. For example, a reference to "Christi Matri, p.221," would be "(221)." Later references will indicate the document referred to by usmg one of the abbreviations listed below, e.g. "RM§4" or "CM210." Documents Considered in this Study ACC A Concilio Constantinopolitano CM Christi Matri OM Dives in misericordia OV Dominum et vivificantem OS Duodecimum saeculum B\1 Euntes in mundum MBO Magnum Baptismi donum MC Marialis Cultus MM Mense Maio RH Redemptor hominis RM Redemptoris Mater RMO Recurrens Mensis October SA Slavorum Apostoli SM Signum magnum Other Abbreviations AAS Acta Apostolicae Sedis LG Lumen Gentium NCE The New Catholic Encyclopaedia TPS The Pope Speaks vi Chapter 1 Introduction: The Advent of Pope John XXIII The Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Churches have a common history of over a thousand years. The date traditionally assigned for the official separation between them is 1054, and a rift remains to this day. In spite of several attempts to recover the lost unity (notably at the Councils of Lyons in 1274 and Florence in 1439), the effect of that separation and of having gone their separate ways for nearly a millennium, is that the two churches have become strangers to each other, and have frequently viewed each other with suspicion and even fear. The issues which separate the Catholic and Orthodox Churches are extremely complicated. If the disagreements could be reduced to theological questions, then there would be a real possibility of making some progress in resolving the differences. The fact is that the climate of discourse in the past frequently has been so overshadowed by political and what could even be termed emotional considerations, that substantial understanding has not been forthcoming. These two churches, the Catholic and the Orthodox, have, as seen from outside, a substantial number of things in common. Among these are their sacramental system, hierarchical structure, monastic tradition, and veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is this veneration of Mary which is to be to considered in this study, which will consist in an analysis of specific Papal documents on the Blessed Virgin Mary from Popes Paul VI and John Paul II to see how far, and in what way, these documents may contribute to ecumenical understanding between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. 2 But before we come to this analysis and critique, a certain amount of background is required, to set the writings of these two Popes in a clear context. Our story may begin with the gathering of the first World Conference of the Faith and Order Movement at Lausanne in 1927. Some Orthodox had been involved in the movement since 1920, and though an approach had been been made at that time to Pope Benedict XV, it had proved unsuccessful. But once the agenda of the 1927 Lausanne Conference was known (the unity of the Church, its essence, its Creed), Benedict's successor, Pope Pius XI (1922-39), reacted swiftly. A month before its opening, on 8 July 1927, a decree from the Holy Office positively forbade any Catholics to attend; and six months later Pius himself replied, on 6 January 1928, with an encyclical, Mortalium Animas, which rejected the whole approach of the Faith and Order Movement. To be fair to him, his negative reaction was both logical and consistent, in that he followed to its natural conclusion the theology dominant in the Roman Communion at that time.