What happened?
An article in the Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica condemned conservative Catholics in the US for forming an “ecumenism of hate” with Evangelical Protestants.
The article, by Fr Antonio Spadaro, a close confidant of Pope Francis, and Protestant pastor Marcelo Figueroa, said the roots of these groups’ “apocalyptic politics” were “not too far apart” from those of ISIS. La Civiltà Cattolica, while not an official Vatican paper, is reviewed by the secretariat of state before publication.
What the media are saying
The Guardian saw the article as a critique of the Trump administration, noting that it singled out Steve Bannon, chief White House strategist.
But Ross Douthat, a columnist for the New York Times, said the piece “reads as an attack by Francis’s inner circle on all US Catholic politics to the right of Commonweal”. On Twitter he suggested it conflated the “far extremes” of ChurchMilitant.com and Calvinist pastor Rousas John Rushdoony with “mainstream pro-life and religious-liberty politics in the US”.
Phil Lawler, writing at CatholicCulture.org, described the piece as an “ignorant, intemperate Vatican assault on American conservatism”. The authors, he said, “scold American conservatives for seeing world events as a struggle of good against evil, yet they clearly convey the impression that they see American conservativism as an evil influence that must be defeated”.
The piece was welcomed by Michael Sean Winters at the National Catholic Reporter. The alliance between Catholics and Evangelicals, he said, “was always more about politics than religion”.
John Allen, meanwhile, said the article’s criticism of US politics as “Manichaean” was a “time-honoured Vatican take on America”: it sees US culture as historically Calvinist, with “the tendency to think in terms of the ‘elect’ and the ‘reprobate’ ”.
Michael Voris, founder of ChurchMilitant.com, called Fr Spadaro a hypocrite, saying he advanced a left-wing agenda in the name of the Church just as he accused Church Militant of “using theology” to advance a right-wing one.
✣ Protestants back Vatican-Lutheran statement
What happened?
The World Communion of Reformed Churches, which represents a number of Protestant denominations totalling 80 million members, signed a joint statement with the Vatican on the doctrine of justification. The statement is the same one that was approved by the Lutheran World Federation in 1999 and the World Methodist Council in 2006.
Why was it under-reported?
The statement is hard to make into racy headline news: an 8,000-word theological treatment of Luther’s teaching, the doctrine of the Council of Trent, and the ways in which Catholic and Protestant thought could be said to converge.
But at an ecumenical ceremony to mark the agreement, Bishop Brian Farrell, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, said it was “a very important growth in communion”, because the doctrine of justification had been key to the Reformation’s disputes: “It means we can no longer think of each other as separated and distant.”
What will happen next?
The Church of England is expected to sign the document later this year. But we are not necessarily entering a golden age of doctrinal unity. The 1999 statement was criticised by several prominent Lutheran thinkers: one, Eberhard Jüngel, complained that “decisive insights of the Reformation were either obscured or surrendered”. The Vatican itself issued a follow-up “official response” which poured cold water on the agreement, saying that there were still major differences, and querying the authority of the Lutheran World Federation to speak for Lutherans.
✣The week ahead
The church in Belgium is celebrating 700 years of a Eucharistic miracle. The Host in question, found stained by blood in 1317, was first kept at a Cistercian convent. After the French Revolution it was hidden in a metal box embedded in a kitchen wall. The Cathedral St Quentin of Hasselt will host a solemn High Mass and 40 Hours of Adoration on Sunday.
An exhibition of artwork inspired by the conflict in Syria is on display at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral this weekend. It includes paintings (right) by Farid Georges, a Christian from Homs who has chronicled the destruction of his city.
Cardinal George Pell will appear at Melbourne magistrates court on Wednesday to face charges of historic sex abuse. It is the first time he has
returned to Australia since he was appointed to reform Vatican finances in 2014. Police in Australia’s Victoria state said there were “multiple charges” and “multiple complainants” but gave no further details.
Areas of Catholic Herald business are still recovering post-pandemic.
However, we are reaching out to the Catholic community and readership, that has been so loyal to the Catholic Herald. Please join us on our 135 year mission by supporting us.
We are raising £250,000 to safeguard the Herald as a world-leading voice in Catholic journalism and teaching.
We have been a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values. Please consider donating.