Category: Vatican Files

The next few years will be quite significant for Rio de Janeiro. The Rio+20 UN Summit on Sustainable Development in June 2012, the (Soccer) World Cup in 2014 and then the Olympic Games in 2016 will push the city to the world’s center stage. Considering that Brazil is emerging as one of the most dynamic BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) economies, these events will probably be another boost for the entire country, at least from a media point of view.

There is yet another event that will draw attention to Rio, this time for a religious reason. The next World Youth Day (WYD) organized by the Roman Catholic Church will be held in July 2013 and preparations are well under way and will involve over two million young people from all over the world.

 

1. From Madrid 2011 to Rio de Janeiro 2013

The WYD began in 1986 in Buenos Aires as a Catholic response to the emerging youth culture. Up to that point, rock concerts and political rallies were the main events that were capable of attracting thousands of young people. John Paul II encouraged the RC Church to become a catalyst for the youth, trying to offer a program that would suit both the Catholic tradition and the expectations of the younger generation. The general goal of the WYD has been to show the “young” face of the Church and its welcoming attitude towards the youth. This is done by a mix of traditional practices that lie at the heart of Roman Catholicism (e.g. Masses, auricular confessions, catechesis, processions, prayer vigils to Mary and the saints) and cultural events that show the adaptability of the Church to youth culture (e.g. pop concerts, arts exhibitions). In his 2011 Christmas Eve speech to the Roman Curia, Pope Benedict XVI said that WYDs are expressions of the universal Church, centered on the Eucharist, encouraging the Sacrament of Reconciliation (i.e. confession) and characterized by youthful joy.

            The last WYD was held in Madrid in 2011 and the next one will be held in Rio de Janeiro in 2013. Last week a conference took place in Rome where the Spanish delegation passed the baton to the Brazilian delegation in the presence of the Archbishops of Madrid and Rio de Janeiro. It provided an opportunity to both assess the last edition and to launch the next one. It is the latter that offers some interesting aspects to consider.

 

2. The Bigger Picture

The WYD returns to Latin America after its first edition in 1986. After the recent visit of Pope Ratzinger to Mexico and Cuba, it will be the next occasion for the Pope to visit Latin America. The continent is increasingly on the RC global radar in this current chapter of history. In presenting the Rio edition, Archbishop Orani João Tempesta said that 44% of Catholics in the world are Latinos and therefore the Church has a particular concern for what happens there. Moreover, the RC Church is showing declining numbers due to the spread of “new sects” (his expression) and the mounting of secularizing tendencies. Latin America still demonstrates a huge “spiritual capital” and a deep “religious soul”, but is wasting the former and withering the latter.

The WYD is therefore a way to reverse the tide by re-launching the Catholic claims on the Latin American continent and targeting the youth. These new worrying developments – said the Archbishop – cannot erase the Catholic “roots” of Brazil and the long-term goal is to help the youth rediscover their “roots” in the Catholic tradition. Ironically it seems that the way forward is to go backwards.

3. Countering a “Low Cost” Faith

From the presentation of the Archbishop, outside of the RC Church in Brazil there are only “sects” and secular trends. In the spiritual geography of the country, it seems that there is no place for non-Catholic, yet Orthodox Christians such as Evangelicals who are certainly not a tiny minority in Brazil. The Christian world is more complex than a black and white picture and the derogatory use of the word “sect” applied to anything not Roman Catholic is a matter of standing concern.

            Asked to speak more about the threat of these “sects” in a press conference at the Vatican, Tempesta qualified them as “Pentecostal” and “Neo-Pentecostal” groups and mentioned their “proselytism” as a negative feature. Apart from the lack of adequate categories to describe a complex phenomenon like the religious landscape in Brazil, there was also a confirmation of how popular Evangelicalism is seen in Catholic eyes. In an intriguing expression, the Archbishop spoke about their “low cost” faith. “Low cost” perhaps means a shallow, superficial, liquid, believing-without-belonging religion. In other words: a rootless faith to be confronted by a call to Roman Catholic “roots”. If Bonhoeffer spoke of the danger of a “cheap grace”, we are now told of the danger a “low cost” faith.

            In spite of what the Catholic hierarchy says and does not say about Evangelicalism, the image the movement portrays should stir some attention. “Grace alone” and “faith alone” are too often viewed as smuggling a “cheap grace” and  a “low cost” faith. Do we have a problem somewhere?

 

 

Leonardo De Chirico

leonardo.dechirico@ifeditalia.org

 

Rome, 7^th April 2012

If you visit St. Peter’s square before the 15^th of April an unexpected and interesting attraction will be waiting for you. In the Braccio di Carlo Magno (i.e. Charlemagne wing) next to St. Peter’s basilica under Bernini’s colonnade on the right-hand side of the square, an exhibition entitled Verbum Domini (i.e. the Word of the Lord) will call for your attention. The colorful Italian-English brochure that will be put in your hands invites you to “Take a walk through the history of the Bible in this private collection of rare biblical texts and objects of enormous importance”. Admission is free.

Verbum Domini is also the title of the 2010 Post-Synodical Apostolic Exhortation by Benedict XVI in which the Pope summarized the present-day Roman Catholic interpretation of the Word of God, i.e. a living Tradition which includes the Bible and which the Magisterium of the Church interprets faithfully. The connection between the papal text and the exhibition is clear and signals the intent to underline the importance of this topic.

1. A Fascinating Exhibition …

The exhibit was put together from private collections from around the world, mainly from the Green Collection – the largest private collection in the world of rare biblical texts and documents. Displayed in 8 galleries, 152 rare biblical texts and artifacts showcase the history of the Bible: from ancient scrolls to copied texts to printed volumes of the XVII century; from Hebrew to Greek to Latin and other vernacular languages; from Qumran to Europe to the rest of the world.

            Here are some of the highlights of the exhibition:

–       Codex Climaci Rescriptus—one of the earliest-surviving, near-complete Bibles containing the most extensive early biblical texts in Jesus’ household language of Palestinian Aramaic.

–       Scrolls

–       The Jeselsohn Stone or Gabriel’s revelation, a three foot tall, 150 pound sandstone tablet discovered near the Dead Sea in Jordan containing 87 lines of first century BCE Hebrew text.

–       The Gutenberg Bible Book of Romans, the first book printed in the West with moveable typeset printing.

–       Complutensian Polyglot, the first multilingual edition of the entire Bible.

In the first gallery, there are also two half-burnt scrolls of the Torah that escaped from total destruction attempted by the Nazis and Stalinists. They are a moving testimony to the on-going battle that surrounds the Bible.

2. The Inter-faith and Ecumenical Intentions

The exhibition has an ambitious goal. In the organizers’ words, “the Verbum Domini, specifically, is a way of celebrating the interfaith love that many traditions have for the Bible, and we believe that is a way of sharing that with the world”.  Jewish, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant traditions are all represented in it. From the Vatican side, here is what Cardinal Farina, Prefect of the Vatican Library, said about the exhibition at the inauguration: “The title Verbum Domini was chosen to highlight the ecumenical conception of this exhibition, and also its venue here at the Vatican. The origin of the documents, the prevalence of the Green Collection, and those from other collections highlight the participation of the Christian denominations. Because in reality, the Bible unites, even though so many think it does the opposite, it’s actually a very strong point of union”.

            Fair enough. But why is it that on the brochure that is distributed at the entrance one reads that “this exhibit celebrates the dramatic story of the Catholic contribution to the most-banned, most-debated, best-selling book of all time”? Has the broad contribution to the history of the Bible become a Catholic contribution alone? Perhaps this is a mistake made by a zealous editor, but it reflects the provincial culture that each institution (Vatican included) can fall prey to.

3. The Missing Story

The most puzzling point, however, is what the exhibition does not say about the history of the Bible. The unsaid is as telling as what is said. The whole trajectory of the suggested narrative is “linear” to the point of being historically untenable. The given picture is that the “modern” translations of the Bible in vernacular languages spread out across the Christian spectrum and that each sector of the Christian church championed their diffusion.

The reality is very different.  Since the XII century the Roman Church has in various ways banned the circulation of Bibles in the peoples’ languages. These bans lead to the compilation of the 1559 Index of Librorum Prohibitorum (Index of Prohibited Books) by Pope Paul IV where Bible translations were among the forbidden books. The vehement attack by the Tridentine Church towards the translations of the Bible allowed historian Gigliola Fragnito to speak of “the Bible on stake” to describe what happened up to the XVII century in countries dominated by the Catholic Church[1]. That ban lasted for centuries. The true story, therefore, is not the mild, peaceful, ecumenical account of the Verbum Domini exhibition.

The Bible is a shared heritage for Christians and this truth is beyond dispute. Therefore historical exhibitions on the Bible should aim at telling the story in a fair and accurate way rather than pursuing wishful ecumenical readings which are partial, selective, and therefore misguiding.

Leonardo De Chirico

leonardo.dechirico@ifeditalia.org

Rome, 26^th March 2012

Is there a specifically Roman Catholic way of doing theology? What are its defining marks? These questions form the background of a 36-page document recently released by the International Theological Commission (ITC). It took 8 years for the Commission to elaborate on it. This long gestation perhaps indicates the difficult task that ITC embarked in drafting the text entitled Theology Today: Perspectives, Principles and Criteria.

Since 1969 the role of the ITC has been to assist the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in examining doctrinal questions and offering insights on various theological issues. The document is helpful because it provides an insider and succinct perspective on what theology as a whole looks like in Vatican eyes.

After observing that true Catholic theology reflects unity (not uniformity) in diversity (not fragmentation),  the document stresses the fact that theology has three main features: “it arises from listening to the Word of God”, “it situates itself consciously and faithfully in the communion of the Church”, and “it is orientated to the service of God in the world”. The most interesting sections of the document are the first two in that they touch on sensitive theological issues that are crucial for other theological traditions as well.

1. A “Living” View of the Word of God

What strikes an Evangelical reader first and foremost is the prominent reference to the Word of God given in the document. In Catholic theology, the expression “Word of God” has a wide, elastic, and dynamic meaning, far beyond the contours of the written Word of the Bible. ICT reminds that Christianity is not a “religion of the book”, but a “religion of the word of God”. The former is “a written and mute word”, the latter is “the incarnate and living Word” (7). A sharp distinction is made between the written Word and the living Word as if the two could be possibly polarized. The Catholic Word contains both the Scriptures “as an inspired testimony to revelation” and “the Church’s living Tradition” (8). Scripture and Tradition constitute the “supreme rule of faith”.

            ICT wants us to appreciate once more what is the standard Roman Catholic theology of the Word of God after Vatican II. The Bible is certainly important, but the Bible is only part of a wider and living Tradition that is proclaimed faithfully “only on the foundation of the apostles and in apostolic succession” (10). Both the doctrinal foundation laid by the apostles and the on-going apostolic ministry exercised by the hierarchy are necessary to have access to the Word of God. The Magisterium of the RC Church is therefore essential in order to have the full Word of God.

2. Tradition as the Word of God

The idea of Tradition is paramount for ICT and is perhaps the highest indicator of what it means for a theology to be Roman Catholic theology. Tradition is defined as a complex whole with various vital components: “a constantly renewed study of sacred Scripture, liturgical worship, attention to what the witnesses of faith have taught through the ages, catechesis fostering growth in faith, practical love of God and neighbor, structured ecclesial ministry and the service given by the magisterium to the Word of God” (26).

The whole Roman Catholic Church is inherently involved in Tradition. In a sense, the Church is so immersed in Tradition that it cannot possibly be corrected by the Scriptures. The Church is so inextricably a part of Tradition that the Bible cannot be above the Church. Since the Bible is part of Tradition and the Church is also part of Tradition, the Bible is submitted to the Tradition of which the Church is the present-day and living voice. In a telling statement, the ICT document says that “Scripture is the first member of the written tradition” (30), implying that there are other members of the same tradition which come after and which define tradition inasmuch as Scripture. The difference is that the “living” voice of the magisterium has the last say whereas the “written” one is just one of the past components of Tradition.

3. Theology and magisterium

It comes as no surprise to read that “fidelity to the Apostolic Tradition is a criterion of Catholic theology” (32). While research is encouraged in all directions, “dissent towards the magisterium has no place in Catholic theology” (41). The magisterium has been given the charisma veritatis certum (i.e. the sure charism of truth) to which theology must submit (33). The role of theology is therefore to investigate and articulate the faith of the Church, but it is the magisterium that “proclaims the faith and authentically interprets it” (38).

Theology Today offers an honest sketch of what it means doing theology the Roman Catholic way. Dei Verbum and Lumen Gentium (i.e. two foundational documents of Vatican II) are the main pillars as far as the doctrines of Revelation and the Church are concerned. The task of theology lies between the two. The document presents nothing new, but is just a restatement of post-Vatican II magisterial views and concerns.

Leonardo De Chirico

leonardo.dechirico@ifeditalia.org

Rome, 13^th March 2012