Theologian Dupuis says hes free at
last
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
NCR Staff Rome
Jesuit Fr. Jacques Dupuis, whose pioneering theology on the
relationship between Christianity and other religions has long set off Vatican
alarms, said Feb. 27 that after two and a half years of very great
suffering, he feels like a free man.
He added, however, that he wouldnt recommend his particular
mode of liberation.
The price of Dupuis freedom was a Feb. 26 Vatican censure of
eight ambiguities in his best-known book, Toward a Theology of
Religious Pluralism, published in 1997. The result ends 36 months of
silence imposed as part of the investigation.
Most observers believe the Vaticans main concern with
Dupuis complex book is his belief that other religions play a positive
role in Gods plan for humanity. Officials worry that this idea will lead
to diminished missionary efforts as well as to a ones as good as
another kind of religious relativism.
Dupuis, who spent 36 years in India before coming to Rome to teach
at the Gregorian University, was among primary targets of the recent Vatican
document Dominus Iesus. It criticized theologians who
relativize Catholicisms superiority over other religions and
Christian churches.
The Feb. 26 Vatican censure, known as a notification,
came from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The notification lauds Dupuis for raising new questions and for
his attempt to remain within the limit of orthodoxy. Nevertheless,
it cites notable ambiguities or difficulties in the book, and lists
several points that theologians must uphold. Those points are:
- Jesus Christ is the sole and universal mediator of
salvation for all humanity;
- The revelation offered in Jesus offers everything necessary for
salvation and has no need of completion by other religions;
- Elements of truth in other religions derive from Jesus;
- The Word of God and the Holy Spirit are not agents of salvation
apart from Jesus Christ;
- Different religions are not ways of salvation complementary to
the Catholic church;
- Followers of other religions are called to be part of the
Catholic church;
- In themselves, other religions are not means of salvation
because they contain omissions, insufficiencies and errors.
Dupuis told members of the press Feb. 27 that he had not
contradicted these principles, even if his approach to them differs from his
critics.
The notification appeared in the Feb. 27 issue of
LOsservatore Romano, the official Vatican newspaper, with
Dupuis signature. Dupuis told reporters, however, that a paragraph had
been inserted that was not in the document he signed. It obliges him to
hold the doctrinal content of the notification; the other asked him
to take account of that content.
Despite the switch, Dupuis said he would not challenge the
notification. Instead he claimed vindication, noting that it condemns possible
misinterpretations rather than errors in his book.
Dupuis also made it clear that he regards the more than two years
of silence and investigation as unjustified.
What I have held and written is not against the faith of the
church, he said.
Dupuis first learned of the investigation in September1998, when
he was instructed to respond to 12 pages of accusations and refrain from
further diffusion of his ideas. The ban meant that the 77-year-old
Jesuit had to cancel the last class he was ever to teach at the Gregorian,
which has a mandatory retirement age of 75.
Dupuis was summoned to Cardinal Joseph Ratzingers office on
Sept. 4, 2000, and presented with a draft notification. It contained
accusations of grave errors, Dupuis said. That draft was revised in
light of the meeting.
Dupuis was accompanied by Jesuit Fr. Gerald OCollins, an
Australian theologian who was his advocate, and Jesuit superior Fr. Peter-Hans
Kolvenbach. Ratzinger was joined by his assistant, Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone,
consultant Salesian Fr. Angelo Amato and a stenographer.
In meeting with the press, Dupuis said that despite having taught
at Romes premier pontifical university for 16 years, this was the first
and only time he has met either Ratzinger or Bertone.
Dupuis said Kolvenbach pointed out the lack of references to page
numbers or quotations from Dupuis book. The suggestion was that the
authors of the notification had relied on negative reviews rather than the book
itself.
OCollins argued that the errors cited were
either not in Dupuis book or were lines from works Dupuis himself was
criticizing.
Ratzinger agreed to revise the notification, although the pope had
already signed it.
One oddity produced by the behind-the-scenes maneuvering is that
John Paul actually signed three different versions of Dupuis censure, in
June and November of 2000 and again on Jan. 19. Each time he ordered
publication, although only the final version appeared. The sequence seems
likely to renew speculation about how closely the pope scrutinizes documents
that appear under his signature.
The e-mail address for John L. Allen Jr. is
jallen@natcath.org.
The text of the notification to Dupuis by the Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith, the accompanying congregation commentary and the
statement released afterward by Jesuit superior Kolvenbach are available on
the NCR Web site at
http://www.natcath.com/NCR_Online/documents/index.htm
National Catholic Reporter, March 9,
2001
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