INTRODUCTION
1.
The Lord Jesus, before ascending into heaven, commanded his disciples to
proclaim the Gospel to the whole world and to baptize all nations: "Go
into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. He who believes
and is baptized will be saved; he who does not believe will be condemned"
(Mk 16:15-16); "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded
you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the world" (Mt
28:18-20; cf. Lk 24:46-48; Jn 17:18,20,21; Acts 1:8).
The
Church's universal mission is born from the command of Jesus Christ and is
fulfilled in the course of the centuries in the proclamation of the mystery of
God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the mystery of the incarnation of the Son,
as saving event for all humanity. The fundamental contents of the profession of
the Christian faith are expressed thus: "I believe in one God, the Father,
Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. I believe
in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the
Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not
made, of one being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us
men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy
Spirit he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he
was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the
third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into
heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in
glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. I
believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the
Father. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has
spoken through the prophets. I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic
Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the
resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come".1
2.
In the course of the centuries, the Church has proclaimed and witnessed with
fidelity to the Gospel of Jesus. At the close of the second millennium,
however, this mission is still far from complete.2 For that reason,
Saint Paul's words are now more relevant than ever: "Preaching the Gospel
is not a reason for me to boast; it is a necessity laid on me: woe to me if I
do not preach the Gospel!" (1 Cor 9:16). This explains the Magisterium's
particular attention to giving reasons for and supporting the evangelizing
mission of the Church, above all in connection with the religious traditions of
the world.3
In
considering the values which these religions witness to and offer humanity,
with an open and positive approach, the Second Vatican Council's Declaration on
the relation of the Church to non-Christian religions states: "The
Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these religions.
She has a high regard for the manner of life and conduct, the precepts and
teachings, which, although differing in many ways from her own teaching,
nonetheless often reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all
men".4 Continuing in this line of thought, the Church's
proclamation of Jesus Christ, "the way, the truth, and the life" (Jn
14:6), today also makes use of the practice of inter-religious dialogue. Such
dialogue certainly does not replace, but rather accompanies the missio ad
gentes, directed toward that "mystery of unity", from which "it
follows that all men and women who are saved share, though differently, in the
same mystery of salvation in Jesus Christ through his Spirit".5
Inter-religious dialogue, which is part of the Church's evangelizing
mission,6 requires an attitude of understanding and a relationship of
mutual knowledge and reciprocal enrichment, in obedience to the truth and with
respect for freedom.7
3.
In the practice of dialogue between the Christian faith and other religious traditions,
as well as in seeking to understand its theoretical basis more deeply, new
questions arise that need to be addressed through pursuing new paths of
research, advancing proposals, and suggesting ways of acting that call for
attentive discernment. In this task, the present Declaration seeks to recall to
Bishops, theologians, and all the Catholic faithful, certain indispensable
elements of Christian doctrine, which may help theological reflection in
developing solutions consistent with the contents of the faith and responsive
to the pressing needs of contemporary culture.
The
expository language of the Declaration corresponds to its purpose, which is not
to treat in a systematic manner the question of the unicity and salvific
universality of the mystery of Jesus Christ and the Church, nor to propose
solutions to questions that are matters of free theological debate, but rather
to set forth again the doctrine of the Catholic faith in these areas, pointing
out some fundamental questions that remain open to further development, and
refuting specific positions that are erroneous or ambiguous. For this reason,
the Declaration takes up what has been taught in previous Magisterial
documents, in order to reiterate certain truths that are part of the Church's faith.
4.
The Church's constant missionary proclamation is endangered today by
relativistic theories which seek to justify religious pluralism, not only de
facto but also de iure (or in principle). As a consequence, it is held that
certain truths have been superseded; for example, the definitive and complete
character of the revelation of Jesus Christ, the nature of Christian faith as
compared with that of belief in other religions, the inspired nature of the
books of Sacred Scripture, the personal unity between the Eternal Word and
Jesus of Nazareth, the unity of the economy of the Incarnate Word and the Holy
Spirit, the unicity and salvific universality of the mystery of Jesus Christ,
the universal salvific mediation of the Church, the inseparability — while
recognizing 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.
The roots
of these problems are to be found in certain presuppositions of both a
philosophical and theological nature, which hinder the understanding and
acceptance of the revealed truth. Some of these can be mentioned: the
conviction of the elusiveness and inexpressibility of divine truth, even by
Christian revelation; relativistic attitudes toward truth itself, according to
which what is true for some would not be true for others; the radical
opposition posited between the logical mentality of the West and the symbolic
mentality of the East; the subjectivism which, by regarding reason as the only
source of knowledge, becomes incapable of raising its "gaze to the
heights, not daring to rise to the truth of being";8 the
difficulty in understanding and accepting the presence of definitive and
eschatological events in history; the metaphysical emptying of the historical
incarnation of the Eternal Logos, reduced to a mere appearing of God in
history; the eclecticism of those who, in theological research, uncritically
absorb ideas from a variety of philosophical and theological contexts without
regard for consistency, systematic connection, or compatibility with Christian
truth; finally, the tendency to read and to interpret Sacred Scripture outside
the Tradition and Magisterium of the Church.
On the
basis of such presuppositions, which may evince different nuances, certain
theological proposals are developed — at times presented as assertions, and at
times as hypotheses — in which Christian revelation and the mystery of Jesus
Christ and the Church lose their character of absolute truth and salvific
universality, or at least shadows of doubt and uncertainty are cast upon them.
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