Vatican document to damage ecumenism
Wednesday, 11 July 2007 15:39
The Vatican said yesterday that Christian denominations outside Roman Catholicism are not full churches of Jesus Christ.
Protestant leaders said this was offensive and would hurt inter-denominational dialogue.
A 16-page document by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Pope Benedict once headed, describes Christian Orthodox churches as true churches, but suffering from a 'wound', since they do not recognise the primacy of the Pope.
The document's central claim, that only the Catholic Church is 'the one true Church of Christ', is likely to revive a debate which has dogged the Vatican's relationship with other Christian denominations for decades.
Such faiths, the Protestant and Orthodox churches, 'lack elements considered essential to the Catholic Church,' it says.
But the document says the 'wound is still more profound' in Protestant denominations.
'Despite the fact that this teaching has created no little distress ... it is nevertheless difficult to see how the title of 'Church' could possibly be attributed to them,' it says.
The document is the Pope's second strong reaffirmation of Catholic tradition in four days, following a decree last Saturday restoring the old Latin Mass alongside the modern liturgy.
