CHURCH MUST FACE CHALLENGE OF SECTS THROUGHOUT LATIN AMERICA
Pope John Paul II
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Address to the Bishops' Conference of Brazil during their Ad limina visit on 5 September 1995.
Dear Brothers in the Episcopate
1. I have been keenly looking forward to this meeting with you, the Bishops of the North Eastern Regions 1 and 4 here on your <ad limina> visit, and I now greet you in St. Paul's words: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all" (2 Cor 13:14)! In welcoming you, I include the clergy, the religious, and the lay faithful of the Ecclesiastical Provinces of Fortaleza and Teresina. I sincerely thank Cardinal Archbishop Aloisio Lorscheider for the sensitive words with which he clearly described the serene and hopeful atmosphere of life in your Dioceses.
Our meeting shows the <deep spiritual and visible bond that exists between your particular Churches and the universal Church>, a communion that derives from the fact of being "grafted" to Christ (cf. Rom 11:17ff). We must constantly turn to him, the chief Shepherd (cf. 1 Pt 5:4), to be aware of the "unsearchable riches" (Eph 3:8) which he has given us to build up his immaculate Bride (cf. Rv 19:7). He is united with her by an unbreakable covenant, and nourishes and takes care of her (cf. Eph 5:29); cf. Dogmatic Constitution <Lumen gentium>, n. 6). Our certitude and our hope rest in him and in the saving power of his Gospel (cf. Rom 1:16).
Following the <ad limina> visits of your Brothers in the Brazilian Episcopate, your presence here vividly recalls not only the immensity of your Dioceses, but also the innumerable challenges inherent in Gospel proclamation that were stressed by the <General Directives of Evangelizing Activity in Brazil> at your Episcopal Conference's meeting this year. More specifically, at previous meetings with the representatives of the Ecclesiastical Provinces of Parana and Sao Paulo,
I had the opportunity to reflect on several aspects of their pastoral concern for the Church, and I encouraged them to be vigilant sentinels of the truth, Pastors who proclaim the truth of Christ and the Church, promoters of the spiritual renewal necessary in all the areas of your particular Churches (cf. <Addresses>, 17 February 1995; 21 March 1995). Today our thoughts are directed to some other aspects of your ministry.
Ecumenical dialogue must be sincere search for truth
2.
"That they may all be one; ... even as we are one" (Jn 17:21, 22). With these words of John, Apostle and Evangelist, I would like to be united with you, first of all to increase the faith of our brothers and sisters in the diocesan communities whose Pastors you are, so that these solemn words may become ever more real:
"That they may all be one, even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they may also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me" (Jn 17:21).
On various occasions Providence has enabled me to insist on one basic conclusion of the
Second Vatican Council, according to which it is the Church's decision to assume the
ecumenical task of promoting Christian unity and proposing it in a convinced and vigorous manner (cf. Decree on Ecumenism <Unitatis redintegratio>, n. 1). Indeed, this has been the indelible mark of my Pontificate which, as you will remember, I wished to express during my last visit to Brazil (cf. <Address>, 18 October 1991).
I have already had the opportunity to affirm, recently too, that
"Here it is not a question of altering the deposit of faith, changing the meaning of dogmas, eliminating essential words from them, accommodating truth to the preferences of a particular age, or suppressing certain articles of the <Creed> under the false pretext that they are no longer understood today. The unity willed by God can be attained only by the adherence of all to the content of revealed faith in its entirety. (Encyclical Letter <Ut unum sint>, n. 18). In addressing the representatives of the world of culture in Sao Salvador da Bahia, I recalled that: "the inculturation of the Gospel is not a more or less appropriate adaptation of the values of the contingent culture, but an authentic incarnation within a specific culture in order to purify it and to redeem it" (<Address>, n. 4, 20 October 1991, <L'Osservatore Romano> English edition, 4 November 1991, p. 7).
The same is true in the realm of ecumenism. Indeed, in the field of inculturation as in that of ecumenism,
it can easily be seen how the search for understanding, acceptance or openness to other groups or religious confessions, has caused serious damage to the pure expression of the mystery of the Catholic faith and liturgical prayer, or undue concessions with regard to the objective needs of Catholic morality. Ecumenism is not a false irenicism (cf. <Unitatis redintegratio>, nn. 4, 11). It is not a quest for unity at all costs. Ecumenical dialogue must be nourished by prayer, defined by the Second Vatican Council as (the soul of any ecumenical movement). This dialogue, which is meaningful only if it is a sincere search for the truth, will be able to ask us to ignore the secondary elements that could become a psychological obstacle to our brothers and sisters of different religious denominations. It would, in any case, never be true, or authentic if it implied even the slightest distortion of a truth of the faith, or the abandonment of the legitimate expression of traditional, popular, Christian piety and the weakening of requirements matured over centuries of ecclesiastical discipline, or of the venerable liturgical traditions of the East, of the Church of Rome and the other Western Churches. Moreover, "Today we know that unity can be achieved through the love of God only if the Churches want it together, in full respect for the traditions of each and for necessary autonomy" (Apostolic Letter <Orientale lumen>, n. 20).
On the other hand, for the fruitful development of true ecumenism, an adequate ecumenical formation and pastoral structures are necessary, such as the ecumenical commissions which collaborate in promoting full unity. The <Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms of Ecumenism> published in 1993, gives precise information applicable to the different situations.
