Category: Vatican Files

The end of the year and the beginning of the new one is a busy time for the Vatican. The Christmas celebrations entail the Pope’s media exposure and huge organizational efforts, coming to a climax with the Christmas Eve mass and the urbi et orbi  (i.e. “to the city and to the world”) benediction on Christmas day. Then on the first day of the year the Pope delivers a special message on the occasion of the World Day of Peace. In the RC Church calendar, January 1^st is also the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. This combination gives the Pope the opportunity to pray to Mary for the world and to commit the new year to her care and protection.

            This is standard Vatican activity for the season. However, in the midst of various public events and engagements, the first day of 2012 saw the promulgation of a special Vatican document with special reference to the former Anglicans wishing to be in full communion with Rome. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a decree which makes provisions for them to be fully accepted into the Roman fold.

1. From Canterbury to Rome

The movement of priests and lay-people from the Anglican Communion to the RC Church has a long history with varying intensities. Perhaps the most famous convert to Rome is cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890) who was beatified by Benedict XVI during his visit to Great Britain in 2010.

Since its beginnings, the Anglican Church has had a significant Anglo-Catholic component which is inclined towards Catholic doctrines and practices. The via media (i.e. “middle way”) has been the tool utilized to allow groups of different orientations to maintain an Anglican identity notwithstanding the presence of various theological and liturgical streams within the Communion. What has been working for centuries is now under increasing stress. From the Eighties onward, in fact, the Anglo-Catholic uneasiness towards the ordination of women to the priesthood has pushed a growing number of them to ask to be accepted by Rome. For them this issue has become the breaking point from Anglicanism. The phenomenon has grown to significant proportions, thus encouraging the Vatican to take action to facilitate the transition.

  In 2009 Pope Ratzinger issued the document Anglicanorum coetibus (i.e. “groups of Anglicans”) that provides for the constitution of “personal ordinariates for Anglicans entering into full communion with the Catholic church”. In RC juridical language, ordinariates are bishopric-like entities that become part of the Conference of Bishops of a given country, while still maintaining certain specific features. In this case, the former Anglicans that are now Roman Catholics can celebrate the sacraments according “to the liturgical books proper to the Anglican tradition”.

Going back to what happened on January 1^st 2012, the first of these ordinariates was eventually erected in the USA in order to receive former North-American Episcopalians. It is called, by no accident, “The Chair of Saint Peter” as to underline the crucial importance of the central institution of the RC Church. Its see will be the church of Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston (Texas) and its patroness will be the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Petrine and Marian faces of the RC Church are both symbolically and practically enforced. Every detail has a wide-ranging meaning and a specific purpose.

It is estimated that this ordinariate gathers 2,000 lay people and 67 priests.

2. Welcome, but …

What is the significance of this welcoming move by the Vatican? Many observers have been puzzled by what seems a double standard policy by the RC Church in her ecumenical relationships. On the one hand it puts the ecumenical efforts in “brotherly and sisterly” terms, thus appreciating the “gifts” of the various Christian communities. On the other it provides institutional room for accepting disillusioned ecumenical partners to become Roman Catholics. What is Rome doing? Embracing with one arm and subtracting with the other?

The Vatican may have faults in many areas of communication but not in this one. There is no hidden agenda in Vatican ecumenism. It is crystal clear that, according to the RC church, ecumenism does not mean maintaining the existing reality, nor merely accepting one another and being nice with one another. This may be the Protestant ambition with regard to Rome: each one remaining as it is and accepting the other as it is. Not so for Rome.

Every official text on ecumenism stresses the point that unity is threefold: professing the same faith, celebrating the same sacraments, being governed by the same bishops united with the Roman Pontiff (e.g. the Vatican II texts: Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium 13; 14; 21; 22; Decree Unitatis redintegratio 2; 3; 4; 15; 20; Decree Ad gentes 22). Since the Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic church in a unique way, so that the Catholic Church is the only church that enjoys the threefold unity as a whole, more ecumenical unity means more Roman Catholic Church and therefore less other Christian communities. In this respect, the goal of ecumenism is the fuller achievement of the unity that the RC Church (and only the RC Church) already lives out.

Benedict XVI opens Anglicanorum coetibus with some telling words: “In recent times the Holy Spirit has moved groups of Anglicans to petition repeatedly and insistently to be received into full Catholic communion individually as well as corporately”. Pope Ratzinger is saying that the Anglo-Catholic move towards Rome is a work of the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit that is the principle of unity which establishes the Church as a communion. Not the Anglican Communion – sorry …, but the Roman Catholic communion.

Leonardo De Chirico

leonardo.dechirico@ifeditalia.org

Rome, 7^th January 2012

“Ecumenism is like a flight”. This is the metaphor that Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, used in a public lecture given in Rome on the current state of world-wide ecumenism. Like any successful flight, so ecumenism is experiencing different phases: take off, cruising and landing. The take off stirs some adrenaline; cruising can be turbulent but provides ample possibilities to enjoy the panorama; landing at destination is always risky but, in this case, both vehicle and pilot are trustworthy. Here is what Cardinal Koch told about the flight of ecumenism.

 

Cruising the ecumenical movement

For the Roman Church, Vatican II (1962-1965) was the take off of the Catholic participation in the ecumenical movement. Expectations were high. Restoration of unity seemed at hand and the process was meant to be quick and immediate. But after take off, cruising can face unexpected and worrying times of turbulence. So the ecumenical season did not bloom from Spring to Summer, but regressed backward from Spring to Winter through a series of sunny and rainy days. Some results were realized, while major problems remain.

According to Vatican II and subsequent magisterial teaching, Christian unity is threefold: professing the same faith, celebrating the same Eucharist, and being united under the same sacramental ministry in apostolic succession. From the Vatican side, there is no unity apart from this threefold dimension. Unity is not a “pick-and-choose” affair, nor is it a vague sense of commonalities. Therefore, ecumenical unity with non-Catholic churches and communities is “real”, yet “imperfect” until it will reach its full scope.

 

Two schisms to reconcile

Koch reminded the meeting that RC ecumenism deals with the results of two “schisms”: that between the East and the West (since the XI century division between Rome and Constantinople) and that within the West itself (since the XVI century division between Rome and the Protestant Reformation).

The former is facilitated by the shared Eucharistic vision of unity and ecclesiastical structure (i.e. episcopacy in apostolic succession) but is hindered by significant differences in cultural patterns and historical developments. The latter is the other way around: facilitated by common cultural patterns (e.g. religious freedom, pluralism) and hindered by significant ecclesiological differences. The crux of the matter with Constantinople (and even more with Moscow) is the Eastern difficulty to recognize the Petrine ministry of the Pope in the full juridical form of its primacy. Cardinal Koch stressed the fact that Rome is working to allow Eastern Churches to recognize the role of the Pope as it was recognized up to the First Millennium prior to the schism. In other words, the Vatican is not pushing the Orthodox to adhere to the Papal office  as it is now, but as it was before 1054. If that happens, “perfect” unity can be achieved.

 

The Protestant complexity

The Protestant “schism” is much more difficult to overcome, says Koch. While the Eastern schism maintained the basic sacramental structures of the Church, the Reformation gave rise to a “new” type of church based on the Word rather than on the sacraments and a “new” ecclesiological paradigm based on communities rather than on the Roman succession of ordained ministry. For the Reformers, the Eucharist and episcopacy (i.e. two defining elements of unity) are no longer constitutive of the church but only subsidiary at best.

The RC problem with Protestants is not only institutional, i.e. having to deal with several, fragmented, divided Evangelical groups instead of having one Protestant church. The underlying and deeper problem is the defective Eucharistic and sacramental theology of Protestantism which nurtures a totally different vision of the nature of the church. Therefore, agreements can be found on basic Christian doctrines (e.g. Trinity, Christology, Bible), but they do not touch the sacramental level and therefore are not conclusive for the ecumenical process. Perhaps, Protestants do not even understand what RC sacramentality is all about, and why it matters (my comment, not Koch’s). The Cardinal gave an example: after the 1999 Joint Declaration on Justification, most Protestants expected full unity (e.g. mutual ministerial recognition and Eucharistic hospitality) to be at hand once the doctrinal division was solved. Not so for the Catholic partners. That statement clarified “aspects” of the doctrine, but did not revolve around the deeper sacramentality of it, i.e. what is the role of the Church in it. Remember that doctrine is only one pole of RC unity, not the only one, and never in isolation from the other two.

The lack of sacramental awareness pushes Protestants to understand unity as “mutual recognition”. In other words, for them reciprocity is the goal of ecumenism. But for Catholics unity entails a common faith, a common Eucharist, and a common ordained ministry. There can be no reciprocity until all three dimensions are involved. So, the RC Church expects her ecumenical partners to change accordingly. Going back to the flight metaphor, Cardinal Koch said that since the pilot is the Holy Spirit, unity in the RC sense will indeed happen.

 

“Doctrine divides, life unites”, or the other way around?

A further complication for RC ecumenism towards liberal Protestants has to do with the sharp divisions that exist on moral issues in church and society. The old dictum stated that “doctrine divides, life unites”, but this is no longer the case. Koch said that doctrinally speaking there has never been a higher degree of theological agreement in Catholic-Protestant relationships than today. Yet, on life issues the ditch is expanding. Pro-life versus pro-choice mirrors our present-day situation and Catholics and liberal Protestants stand on opposite sides. Yesterday, doctrine was felt to be the major obstacle to unity. Today, while doctrine is commonly held, common action in society is becoming a bigger ecumenical problem. The issue at stake is a different “Christian anthropology”.

 

New ecumenical partners

Cardinal Koch gave a picture of what he sees in flying over the ecumenical territory. The sky seems filled with clouds rather than sunshine. However, the ecumenical field shows that new partners are emerging. Historical Protestant churches are declining in numbers and consistency, whereas Evangelical and Pentecostal groups are growing. The latter have “strong convictions” about the Christian faith, often elaborated in an anti-Catholic fashion. Yet generally speaking they share with Catholics a similar moral vision . “We have just begun to get to know them and to talk to them”, Koch concluded.

So far, Evangelicals are an appendix of the RC mapping of the ecumenical scene. Yet they are on the radar and are subjects that generate RC curiosity and puzzlement: a mix of perplexity and intrigue.

 

 

Leonardo De Chirico

leonardo.dechirico@ifeditalia.org

 

Rome, 19^th December 2011

Africa has a central place on the Roman Catholic global map. Contrary to negative trends in the West, Africa is a continent where the RC Church is growing in terms of adherents and vocations to priesthood and religious life. In all its contradictions and in the midst of deep social problems, the “African religious soul” seems to be a fertile soil for the Church. It is not by chance that the RC Church has been increasingly reflecting on Africa over the last twenty years and is apparently investing much energy in trying to foster the RC presence there.

In 1994 John Paul II convened a Synod of bishops on Africa which was followed by the 1995 Exhortation Ecclesia in Africa (i.e. The Church in Africa). The then Pope brought together insights and proposals that would encourage the church’s engagement in the continent. His many trips to Africa testified the same concern. During Benedict XVI’s reign, another Synod of bishops was assembled in 2009. Then, as part of his recent visit to Benin (19^th November 2011), Pope Ratzinger signed the Post-Synodal Exhortation Africae Munus (i.e. Africa’s Commitment) which collects and comments upon different issues that were discussed in the Synod.

Africa’s two-fold face

The text is full of praises for the “exceptional ecclesial vitality” of the African church. The soul of Africa is “a spiritual lung for a humanity that appears to be in crisis of faith and hope” (n. 13). Unlike other parts of the world, religion matters in Africa and spirituality is daily bread for most of its peoples. The RC Church is being called to build on this religious sentiment as “Mother and Teacher” drawing upon several sources: “sacred Scripture, Tradition and the sacramental life” which are all combined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (n. 95). In particular, the RC Church is being encouraged to keep on investing in education, protection of life (e.g. health care) and inculturation of the Gospel.

Yet the document does not hide the fact that Africa is also a place where an “anthropological crisis” is taking place with devastating consequences. The age-old foundations of social life are shaken by the allures of modernity. The outcomes of such a culture shock are producing trauma and conflicts everywhere. Benedict XVI therefore is calling the Church to be an agent of reconciliation, justice, and peace.

According to Pope Ratzinger, Africa presents a two-fold face: on the one hand it’s flourishing as far as the pervasive role of religion is concerned, on the other it’s worrying as far as the severe contradictions of its present-day situation are concerned.

A defective religious landscape

What is also interesting in the document is the mapping of the African religious landscape. Benedict XVI describes opportunities and challenges of interreligious dialogue, especially with traditional African religions and with Islam. In this respect, the Pope recalls the teaching of the Second Vatican Council that urged the RC Church “to enter with prudence and charity into discussion and collaboration with members of other religions” (n. 92).

            When it comes to surveying the ecumenical dialogue with non-Catholic Christians in Africa, Pope Ratzinger mentions the on-going relationships with the Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican and Methodist communities (n. 89). These groups seem to be the “good” ecumenical partners of the RC Church.

Then, reference is made to “non-Catholic communities, sometimes known as African Independent Churches” that are “an offshoot of traditional Christian churches and ecclesial communities” (n. 90). We are told that they adopt various elements of traditional African cultures and that they are new in the ecumenical field. Are Evangelical churches in this group? We are not told. If yes, why not qualify them as Evangelicals, which is a widely accepted term? Why refer to them only as “independent” and not in a more theological and historical way? If not, then according to the Pope Evangelicals belong to the last group, i.e. different “syncretistic movements” generally rallied around a leader claiming exceptional gifts that exploits people’s credulity. They are based on “a variety of heterodox, non-Christian beliefs”.

In the Pope’s spectrum on Africa, Evangelicals are missing. In his perception there are the ecumenically minded Christians, the African independent churches, and various local cults. This is curious to say the least. For example, the Association of African Evangelicals (AAE) is part of the World Evangelical Alliance and represents more than 100 million African Evangelicals comprising 36 National Evangelical Fellowships that are made up of numerous local churches. They do not seem to be on the Vatican radar.

The Pope keeps on beating Evangelicals on their heads. In his 2007 visit to Brazil, he did not distinguish between Evangelicals and dangerous “cults” and called them a “sect”. In his September 2011 visit to Germany, he called them a new form of Christianity with little rationality and little dogmatic content. Now, in Africa he ignores them all together. Perhaps Benedict XVI has a problem with Evangelical Christianity.

Leonardo De Chirico

leonardo.dechirico@ifeditalia.org

Rome, 30^th November 2011

Images can turn the world and large portions of its population upside down. In 2005 a satirical vignette which pictured the prophet Mohammed having a bomb on his head instead of a turban caused outrage in the Muslim world. Millions of Muslims felt offended and thousands of them responded with street demonstrations around the globe. Protests went as far as bombing Danish embassies and pronouncing a fatwa against the cartoonist. An international controversy was aroused over free-speech rights, self-censorship and the respect of religious sensitivities. In the West the general orientation of public opinion perceived the Muslim reaction as grossly overstated and hitting one of the indispensable capstones of Western civilization. However it became clear that the final word could not be said on the issue. The power of images challenges a simple black and white approach. A new case will cause many to further reflect on it.

 

A Papal kiss to fight hatred?

On November 16^th, a huge banner was displayed on Castel Sant’Angelo’s bridge in Rome, right in front of Vatican City. The picture is very impacting and somewhat shocking. In it Pope Ratzinger is kissing an imam who happens to be Ahmed al-Tayyeb, imam of the mosque Al Ahzar in Cairo. The picture is part of an advertisement campaign by Italian photographer Oliviero Toscani on behalf of the fashion industry United Colors of Benetton, whose aim is to fight against the culture of hatred by promoting friendship amongst peoples, cultures and faiths. The campaign will also feature passionate kisses between President Obama and the Chinese President Hu Jintao, between Chancellor Angela Merkel and the French President Sarkozy, and between Israeli Prime minister Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Abu Mazen. But the religious kiss between the Pope and al-Tayyeb was meant to be the first and perhaps most shocking one of the series.

The Vatican has immediately expressed its indignation for violating the image of the pope, desecrating his dignity, and offending the religious sensitivity of millions of Roman Catholics around the world. The banner was immediately removed but copies of the picture went out around the world, soon becoming one the most clicked on photos of the day. The following day the Vatican announced that Benetton will be sued both nationally and internationally.

 

Freedom in the era of Photoshop

Controversies over the limits of freedom of expression will undoubtedly rise again. The Vatican has not only appealed against the attack on the individual image of the Pope, but also to the alleged and public scorn and disgust caused to the faithful who recognize the Pope as their leader. While the former criterion is more neatly identifiable, the latter is more difficult to define. It is certainly contrary to the Pope’s dignity to manipulate a picture in which he, a confessed celibate, is pictured as kissing another man, thus indicating a homosexual relationship. If he had agreed to its use, this would have given United Colors of Benetton the right to exploit it. Since this is not the case, it is clearly not right to grossly caricature a man for publicity and business purposes without consent. Moreover, since the picture is counterfeit in sensitive and significant ways, permission is even more necessary, so to speak.

The other argument by the Vatican appears to be weaker and potentially dangerous. In any given matter/situation (i.e. sports, religion, politics) one can always find someone who gets offended by the language used, opinions expressed, or the media employed. Is “offensiveness” a proper legal category that entitles someone to sue someone else? Homosexuals can be “offended” by the Evangelical preacher who publicly reads Romans 1. Secularists can be “offended” by someone speaking of “the creation of the world”. Evangelicals can be “offended” by the Pope referring to them as a cult. The list goes on and on. The legal protection of one’s own dignity is one thing, respecting the “feelings” and “emotions” of different people is another. The former can potentially become a legal case, the latter is better addressed in terms of appropriateness (or lack of it).

The world of Photoshop is a brave new world. Christian ethics must pave a way forward in these difficult, yet unavoidable issues.

 

Leonardo De Chirico

leonardo.dechirico@ifeditalia.org

 

Rome, 19^th November 2011

 

 

 

 

The Vatican is a global player in bioethical debates. Its magisterium has been addressing bioethical issues since the birth of this discipline in the Sixties. Encyclicals like Humanae Vitae (“[The Transmission of] Human Life”, 1968) dealt with contraception in the context of changing sexual habits; Veritatis Splendor (“The Splendor of Truth”, 1993) defended the teaching of the authority of the Church in an age of moral relativism; Evangelium Vitae (“The Gospel of Life”, 1995) underlined the inviolability of human life in the context of thorny debates about abortion, euthanasia, and medical research involving human embryos.

From the institutional point of view, the Pontifical Academy for Life was established in 1994 as the Vatican department whose mission is defending and promoting the views of the Church in academic and public debates around the world.

Theologically and ethically, Roman Catholic bioethics has been majoring on categories like “nature” (understood rather philosophically and statically), “the sacredness of life” (verging towards the absoluteness of what is a created and transient gift), “person” (conceived in rather monolithic terms and not adequately distinguishing human biology and human biography). More than exploring and developing Biblically supported reasoning, Catholic bioethics has preferred locking itself in natural law and the finality of being.

If secular bioethics has elevated the “ego” as its idol (i.e. whatever the individual decides, that’s fine), Catholic bioethics has tended towards elevating the “bios” as its idol (i.e. the decisive point is wherever and whenever biological life is found). The complexity of life is therefore flattened in both approaches and the Biblical realism about life is left aside.

 

A New Phase of Bioethical Engagement

Catholic bioethics has become synonymous with ethical conservatism and frequently mocked in public debate dominated by secularist trends. It has always been defending something and has developed a defensive attitude. However, things may change.

A recent move by the Pontifical Council for Culture (another important Vatican department) calls for attention. For the first time ever, the Vatican has signed a contract with a US biotech company (NeoStem) to stir research on adult stem cells. NeoStem is working in the field of regenerative medicine in order to develop cell therapies for autoimmune disorders (e.g. diabetes), heart diseases, and orthopedic ailments. Regenerative medicine using adult stem cells does not destroy human embryos and is therefore ethically legitimate for those who are in the pro-life front.

The Vatican financial investment amounts to 1 million US dollars. Not a big deal, but not an insignificant figure either. An international conference at the Vatican on “Adult Stem Cells: Science and the Future of Man and Culture” (November, 9-11) hosted the launching of the joint-venture in the biotech industry and the new Vatican engagement in the bioethical arena. The great promises of the use of adult stem cells were highlighted as far as the reduction of human suffering is concerned as well as their full ethical viability. Participants were also granted an audience with Benedict XVI who delivered a speech reinforcing the morality of using adult stem cells over against the immorality of destroying embryo stem cells.

 

 

The Two-fold Strategy

The Vatican is well aware that the bioethical debate is very polarized. In the area of regenerative medicine, the embryo stem cells versus adult stem cells debate has taken a very ideological turn. It is more often a clash of opposing worldviews than an informed scientific and moral discussion.

So far the Vatican has tended to embody and support the conservative side of the debate offering philosophical and moral arguments against embryo destruction and for the use of adult stem cells on the basis of Catholic moral theology. The partnership with NeoStem amounts perhaps to a paradigm shift or at least to a broadening of scope. The regenerative medicine battle will not be won by arguments, principles, and values alone. Those who discover sustainable cures first will win the day. So the Vatican, in investing in the adult stem cells industry, shows its willingness to run the race by financing research on adult stem cells with the expectation that it will deliver what it promises before the embryo stem cells industry gets to it. First come, first served.

Of course the Vatican will continue to play its role in the battle by way of its traditional contribution, e.g. through encyclicals, documents, conferences, moral suasion, etc. It will keep on employing its philosophical and theological expertise in order to support its moral framework. It will continue to let its voice be heard through its institutions. Yet this is not enough. For a global player like the Vatican, the bioethical challenges of our day require a new two-fold strategy as a moral reference point and as a financial investor. The Vatican seems to have the know-how and the resources to do both.

Leonardo De Chirico

leonardo.dechirico@ifeditalia.org

 

Rome, 14^th November 2011