A prophetic encyclical: 25 years
of Ut unum sint
 |
| Saint John Paul II : To believe in Christ means to desire unity |
A passionate appeal to all Christians to respond to Jesus’
prayer for the unity of His disciples: Pope John Paul II’s Encyclical helps us
to see the reality of today’s Christian communities with a renewed ecumenical
commitment.
By Sergio Centofanti
Saint John Paul II’s encyclical Ut
unum sint - on ecumenical commitment - was published on 25
May 1995. Twenty-five years later, it maintains its relevance and its prophetic
character.
With a forward-looking gaze, it indicates a goal that still
seems far off: the unity of Christians. It is the desire of Jesus Himself who,
before His Passion, prayed to the Father that His disciples might be one.
The Pope of unity
Pope John Paul II felt personally felt Jesus' ardent desire
and made it his own. Ecumenism became one of the priorities of his Pontificate,
because the division of Christians is a scandal that affects the Jesus’ work.
“To believe in Christ,” John Paul writes, “means to desire
unity”. It is an act of obedience that broadens the horizons of the heart and
mind. But it was precisely the Pope of unity who suffered the great pain of
schism. Some among the brothers and sisters did not understand this forward
momentum.
The document came just seven years after the illegitimate
episcopal ordination conferred by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, which in 1988
formalized his break with Rome.
Accused of relativism
The French traditionalist prelate accused the Polish Pope
and the Second Vatican Council of what he called “false ecumenism”, saying they
destroyed the true faith and led “the Church into ruin and Catholics into
apostasy". Lefebvre claimed that Providence had entrusted him with the
mission of opposing “modern Rome, infested with modernism”, so that “Rome may
become Catholic again and rediscover its two thousand year old Tradition”.
In his view, a “Protestant conception” of the Mass and the
Sacraments had been introduced.
Lefebvre died in 1991. His disciples attacked the Encyclical
of John Paul II because, they said, it not only leads to “dogmatic relativism”,
but de facto contained it. This was a position based on “an
incomplete and contradictory notion of Tradition”, as John Paul had already
said in the Apostolic Letter Ecclesia
Dei: incomplete. The Pope says this notion does not consider
that Tradition is alive and growing as it is handed down from generation to
generation, without it being fixed at a predetermined historical date; and
contradictory, because Tradition can never be separated from communion with the
Pope and with pastors throughout the world.
Dialogue: a priority that allows unexpected discoveries
The Encyclical looks forward with courage. It indicates
dialogue as a priority and as a necessary step toward discovering the riches of
others. It reviews all the steps taken towards unity with the various Churches
and Christian communities, beginning with the mutual lifting of the
excommunications between Rome and Constantinople, and the common Christological
Declarations with the ancient Churches of the East.
It outlines a path forward that allows “unexpected
possibilities” in the awareness that “legitimate diversity is in no way opposed
to the Church's unity”. “Intolerant polemics and controversies”, the text
reads, “have made incompatible assertions out of what was really the result of
two different ways of looking at the same reality”.
It is a path that can help us “discover the unfathomable
riches of the truth” and the presence of elements of sanctification “beyond the
visible boundaries of the Catholic Church”.
The expression of truth can take different forms
John Paul II explains that ecumenism is not a matter of
“altering the deposit of faith” and “changing the meaning of dogmas”.
Rather, “the expression of truth can take different forms”
because “doctrine needs to be presented in a way that makes it understandable
to those for whom God himself intends it”, in whatever culture they belong to,
avoiding any form of “ethnic exclusivism or racial prejudice, and from any
nationalistic arrogance”.
A dialogue of doctrine that is also a dialogue of love
The Encyclical indicates the need for a “manner and method
of expounding the Catholic faith” that is not “a hindrance to dialogue with our
brothers and sisters”, acknowledging that there is “a hierarchy in the truths”
in Catholic teaching.
The Church, John Paul says, is summoned by Christ to
“continual reform”, which “might require a review of assertions and attitudes”.
Dialogue, he says, “does not extend exclusively to matters of doctrine but
engages the whole person” because “it is also a dialogue of love”. It is from
love that “the desire for unity is born”. It is a path that demands, “patient
and courageous efforts. In this process, one must not impose any burden beyond
that which is strictly necessary”.
The primacy of prayer: converging on the essential
In ecumenism, the Polish Pope explains, pride of place
belongs to common prayer. Christians, praying together, can discover that what
unites them is much stronger than what divides them.
The liturgical renewal carried out by the Catholic Church
and other ecclesial communities has allowed for convergences on what is
essential, and together, more and more, they are able turn to the Father with
one heart. “At times it seems that we are closer to being able finally to seal
this ‘real although not yet full’ communion”, the Pope observes. “A century ago
who could even have imagined such a thing?”
A common commitment to freedom, justice, peace
Among the steps forward on the path of ecumenism, the
Encyclical points to the growing collaboration of Christians of various
confessions in their commitment to “freedom, justice, peace, and the future of
the world”. The “united voice of Christians has more impact than any one
isolated voice” by “inculcating respect for the rights and needs of everyone,
especially the poor, the lowly and the defenceless”.
For Christians, the Pope emphasizes, it is not merely a
question of humanitarian activity, but of responding to the world of Jesus, as
we read in chapter 25 of Matthew’s Gospel: “I was hungry and you gave me
food...”
Changing the language: from condemnation to mutual
forgiveness
John Paul II calls for a change of language and of
attitudes: we must avoid the aggressive and antagonistic approach of
opposition, of “a defeatism which tends to see everything in negative terms,”
or “of an unevangelical insistence on condemning the ‘other side’, of a disdain
born of an unhealthy presumption”.
It is necessary, instead, “to do everything possible, with
God's help, to break down the walls of division and distrust, to overcome obstacles
and prejudices”, eliminating hurtful words and expressions, choosing the path
of humility, meekness and fraternal generosity. So with time we’ve reached the
point where we no longer speak of heretics or enemies of the faith, but of
“other Christians”, of “others who have received baptism”.
“This broadening of vocabulary”, John Paul points out, “is
indicative of a significant change in attitudes”. It is a journey of conversion
that passes along a necessary path of mutual repentance for wrongs committed.
And Pope John Paul II asks forgiveness for the faults committed by members of
the Church.
The primacy of the Pope: a service of love
Full unity has in Peter its visible point of reference, and
John Paul II launches an appeal to the various Christian communities to help
“find a way of exercising the [papal] primacy which, while in no way renouncing
what is essential to its mission, is nonetheless open to a new situation”, as
“a service of love recognized all concerned”.
A Church on the path to unity
Ut unum sint is a splendid synthesis of the
Church’s journey through its 2000 years of history. It is a light that points
the way forward, continuing along the same path as those who have gone before
us.
It shows the living character of Tradition, which - as Dei
Verbum says – traces its origins from the Apostles
and progresses in the Church under the assistance of the Holy Spirit. And it is
thanks to the Spirit that the understanding of the faith grows.
In this journey - says John Paul II quoting St. Cyprian -
brothers must learn to go to the altar reconciled, because “God does not accept
the sacrifice of a sower of disunion”. Instead, “the better sacrifice” to offer
to God “is peace, brotherly concord and a people made one in the unity of the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit”.
This is Pope St. John Paul II's final invitation: to ask the
Lord the grace to prepare us all “to offer this sacrifice of unity”.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét