Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, believes “the Catholic Church is not ready at present for a Vatican Council III.” He made the statement in an interview with a Spanish newspaper in May. At the time some Latin American and Spanish Catholic theologians were calling for a new ecumenical council to discuss the discipline of celibacy for the Catholic Church of the Latin rite.
The Cardinal said that the situation of his Latin American priests, both in terms of economics as well as their willingness to be dedicated to their vocation, recommends celibacy. Doing away with celibacy is not a solution, he said, as can be seen by “bad witnesses in some sects” who have married ministers.
Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga, a Salesian who was appointed cardinal by Pope John Paul II, added, “I think Vatican II is about to reveal many things for the first time.”
Are the Pope’s Frailties an Advantage?
John Paul II can carry out his “spiritual role” even if he lacks the strength and vigor of youth, according to a major Polish film director. Krzysztof Zanussi, author of three films on Karol Wojtyla, told the Italian daily Il Corriere della Sera that he met with the Pope recently and it is easier to see John Paul II’s “lucidity and sharpness” in private than in public.
The film director’s comments were made in light of recent speculation that the Pope’s physical infirmities might lead him to resign. “The Pope is not a manager who, grown weak and infirm, is replaced because it is believed that he is unable to handle a business’s interests effectively,” Zanussi said. “In the Orthodox Church it is impossible to remove the figure of the elderly wise man. I think it is the best perspective to evaluate the question—superfluous from my point of view—of the Pope’s resignation.
“In other religions—I am thinking of Buddhism or Islam—the problem of resigning does not arise,” Zanussi noted. “No one would think of asking the Dalai Lama to resign. There is a Western pragmatism that deforms the problem.”
Even from the standpoint of communication, the Polish film director believes that old age and bouts of illness are elements in the Pope’s favor. “When seeing an athlete, one suspects that he pursues immediate objectives,” Zansussi said. “However, a weak man can only think of eternal things and transmit extremely valid messages.”
Hudson: Political Pragmatism Is Necessary
In a wide-ranging interview with Zenit news agency in June, Crisis magazine editor Deal Hudson addressed the tricky issue of political incrementalism with his usual candor. The Zenit correspondent noted that some Catholics have been critical of U.S. president George W. Bush because he has not taken a position that is one-hundred percent pro-life—for example, on the cloning issue.
“Many Catholic and Christian pro-life groups do not understand, and therefore do not engage, in the political process,” Hudson replied. “The teaching on incrementalism in [Pope John Paul II’s encyclical] Evangelium Vitae (no. 73) was extremely important because of its political realism—namely, that political compromise is not a moral compromise seen in the democratic context.
“In other words, Catholics can support in-between steps toward the total protection of life from the womb to natural death without being guilty of moral cowardice or complicity with evil. Some pro-life leaders think that the affirmation of a moral principle can and must lead only to an identical political conclusion without any incremental steps. Leaders of Catholic apostolates will become more effective politically when they accept Church teaching on participation in the democratic process instead of standing on the sidelines lobbing bombs at those who are getting their hands dirty.
“Catholics are beginning to become more involved in politics as Catholics. . . . Training for Catholic lay leadership is difficult to find. It requires solid grounding in Catholic doctrine, Catholic social teaching, practical politics and media training. This vacuum should be filled.”
Look for Hudson’s story of his own conversion to Catholicism in next month’s This Rock.
Time to Renegotiate the Settlement?
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor thinks it is time for Britain to lift its historic ban on any heir to the throne marrying a Catholic, the BBC reported in June. The archbishop of Westminster called for a repeal of the three-hundred-year-old ruling as he prepared to take part in a multi-faith service to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation.
“I think with regard to the Act of Settlement [which bans British royalty from marrying Catholics], it’s not really relevant and shouldn’t be in today’s world and today’s Britain,” the cardinal said of the 1701 law governing the marriage of an heir. “After all, it’s not so much that it is an act of discrimination against Roman Catholics—which it is—but it seems to me to be discrimination against the royal family.”
Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor said the present law needed changing so that Prince William could marry someone of any faith. “He can marry by law a Hindu, a Buddhist, anyone, but not a Roman Catholic,” the cardinal said. “That seems to me anomalous and I think it should go.”
We Will Overwhelm You
The number of Catholics in the world has grown by thirty-eight percent in the years of John Paul II’s pontificate, according to the latest Statistical Yearbook of the Church. The number of people baptized in the Catholic Church worldwide from 1978 to 2000 increased from 757 million to well over a billion. The numbers in Africa soared up by almost 140 percent. Europe is the last in this category, with 5.8 percent growth.
In Asia Catholics account for only 2.9 percent of the population, in Europe it is 40 percent, in the Americas 63 percent.
Over the twenty-two-year period of the current pope’s pontificate, the number of bishops has grown to 4,541 from 3,714. But priests total just over 405,000, down 3.75 percent from 1978. The number of candidates for the priesthood has soared from 64,000 in 1978 to 111,000 in 2000. Growth is notable in Asia and Africa, less so in Oceania, Europe, and America.
Permanent deacons have increased considerably everywhere since 1978, including a 678 percent rise in Europe. The ranks of professed male religious who are not priests have decreased from 76,000 to just over 56,000. There has also been about a 19 percent decrease in professed women religious—though in this area as well there is growth in the developing world.
Mary, Mother of Ecumenism
Anyone who has had a discussion with a Protestant regarding Catholic devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary knows it’s a huge stumbling block. The common accusation made is that Catholics are engaged in an unnecessary channel of mediation with God by invoking the intercession of Mary or that devotional practices and use of images are a form of idolatry.
But no sound ecumenical effort can ignore the place of the Virgin Mary, Fr. Julian Porteous, rector of seminary of the Good Shepherd in Sydney, Australia, told a conference organized by the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy in Rome last month. “Biblical and patristic studies reveal Mary’s place in ecclesiology and in the faith and spirituality of the Church from its earliest beginnings,” said Fr. Porteous. “Catholics cannot, in a false ecumenical sensitivity, adopt a silence about Mary. There was a tendency to do this in the early years of the grassroots ecumenical movement.
“Indeed, our devotion to and honoring of Mary can become precisely a source for constructive and clarifying dialogue with, particularly, Evangelical Christians. It can challenge the limits of a Fundamentalist approach to faith based in a narrow interpretation of the biblical texts. It can open up the rich incarnational dimension of Catholicism. It can challenge a reluctance to explore the sacramental and ecclesial character of Christianity.
“Reflection on the relationship between Mary and the Holy Spirit, and Mary and the Church, can provide a possible basis for ecumenical discussion,” Fr. Porteous concluded. “Catholic love of and devotion to Mary can become not an obstacle toward ecumenism, but a ground for serious ecumenical discussion.”