Well, on to the defense of Pope John Paul II…Did he
teach universalism?
Let’s make this clear Universalism is a heresy. It is not taught by the Catholic Church. What is Universalism?
1 often capitalized
a: a theological doctrine that all human beings will
eventually be saved
b: the principles and practices of a liberal Christian
denomination founded in the 18th century originally to uphold belief in universal salvation
and now united with Unitarianism
Once called Apocatastasis:
A name given in the history of
theology to the doctrine which teaches that a time will come when all free
creatures will share in the grace of salvation; in a special way, the devils
and lost souls.
This
was never the teaching of Pope John Paul II; that will be shown in this four part series.
Here are the quotations, as they appeared in the
original post:
4) It
is asserted that Pope John Paul II taught universalism (a heresy) in at least
the following documents:
John Paul II, Redemptor
Hominis (# 13), March 4, 1979:
“We are dealing with each man, for each one is included in the mystery of the Redemption and with each one Christ has united Himself forever through this mystery.”
John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio (# 4), Dec. 7, 1990:
“The Redemption event brings salvation to all, ‘for each one is included in the mystery of the Redemption and with each one Christ has united himself forever through this mystery.’”
John Paul II, Centesimus Annus (# 53) May 1, 1991:
“We are not dealing here with man in the ‘abstract,’ but with the real, ‘concrete,’ ‘historical’ man. We are dealing with each individual, since each one is included in the mystery of the Redemption and through this mystery Christ has united himself with each one forever.”
“We are dealing with each man, for each one is included in the mystery of the Redemption and with each one Christ has united Himself forever through this mystery.”
John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio (# 4), Dec. 7, 1990:
“The Redemption event brings salvation to all, ‘for each one is included in the mystery of the Redemption and with each one Christ has united himself forever through this mystery.’”
John Paul II, Centesimus Annus (# 53) May 1, 1991:
“We are not dealing here with man in the ‘abstract,’ but with the real, ‘concrete,’ ‘historical’ man. We are dealing with each individual, since each one is included in the mystery of the Redemption and through this mystery Christ has united himself with each one forever.”
John Paul II, Homily,
June 6, 1985:
"The Eucharist is the sacrament of the convenant of the Body and Blood of Christ, of the convenant which is eternal. This is the covenant which embraces all. This Blood reaches all and saves all."
Published in: L' Osservatore Romano, July 1, 1985, p. 3
"The Eucharist is the sacrament of the convenant of the Body and Blood of Christ, of the convenant which is eternal. This is the covenant which embraces all. This Blood reaches all and saves all."
Published in: L' Osservatore Romano, July 1, 1985, p. 3
Are
these teachings in universalism? Would, or should, such teachings derail the
canonization process?
Where did this list of out of context statements
come from? In fact, I found these quotes
as exactly as they appear here in a paper written by a sede vacantist dissenter
on his website. (I will provide the name
and website to anyone who writes me; however, because of the
anti-Catholic-Church nature of the website, I do not wish to perpetuate this
man’s works). This alone makes the
attempt to make these statements seem as if Pope John Paul II was Universalist,
suspect. Now let’s get on with analyzing
the quotations themselves.
Starting with the first three first, the author will
deal with the fourth quote, the one from his June 6, 1985 homily, separately. The irony of the first three quotes is this, Redemptor Hominis is the original quote;
the other two quotes are John Paul II referencing the first quote in Redemptor Hominis. In other words, they are actually all the
same statement in three different contexts.
Now, let’s look at context, shall we? Now in section 13 of Redemptor Hominis we need to back up a little. First off, this is the first section of ‘Chapter
III: Redeemed Man and His Situation in the Modern World.’ The name of this chapter indicates that Pope John Paul II was addressing “redeemed
man” and his relationship with the rest of mankind.
Earlier in section thirteen, Pope John Paul II
quotes the Vatican II document Gaudium et spes (Pastoral Constitution on the
Church in the Modern World) section 22.
JPII writes “Christ the Lord indicated this way [the one single way]
especially, when, as the Council teaches, “by his Incarnation, he, the Son of
God, in a certain way united himself with each man.”” [i]
It may, on the surface seem like
universalism, but this is reading it, at worst with a bit of bigotry, at best
out of context. Now, if we look at GS 22, it says:
He
Who is "the image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15),(21) is Himself
the perfect man. To the sons of Adam He restores the divine likeness which had
been disfigured from the first sin onward. Since human nature as He assumed it
was not annulled,(22) by that very fact it has been raised up to a divine
dignity in our respect too. For by His
incarnation the Son of God has united Himself in some fashion with every man.
He worked with human hands, He thought with a human mind, acted by human
choice(23) and loved with a human heart. Born of the Virgin Mary, He has truly
been made one of us, like us in all things except sin.(24)[ii]
The Council is referring to the Incarnation, and,
because the Word became Flesh (John 1), He is united to every man in a
different way than a Spirit can be united with him. He worked, He thought, He acted, and He loved
as a human. That is how He is united to
every man. He understands us and knows
us in a different way than He could have before. The Council is not speaking of Universalism,
but rather the nature of Jesus Christ’s humanity. He was truly man, and that humanity “has been
raised up to a divine dignity in our respect too.”[iii]
Now let’s look at the Redemptor Hominis statement once again: “We are dealing with each man, for each one
is included in the mystery of the Redemption and with each one Christ has
united Himself forever through this mystery.”
Here is the previous paragraph (to the one which contains the quote in question) in its entirity:
When we penetrate by means of the continually and rapidly
increasing experience of the human family into the mystery of Jesus Christ, we
understand with greater clarity that there is at the basis of all these ways
that the Church of our time must follow, in accordance with the wisdom of Pope
Paul VI86, one single way: it is the way that has stood the test of
centuries and it is also the way of the future. Christ the Lord indicated this
way especially, when, as the Council teaches, "by his Incarnation, he, the Son of God, in a certain way united himself
with each man"87. The Church therefore sees
its fundamental task in enabling that union to be brought about and renewed
continually. The Church wishes to serve this single end: that each person may be able to find Christ, in order that Christ
may walk with each person the path of life, with the power of the truth about
man and the world that is contained in the mystery of the Incarnation and the
Redemption and with the power of the love that is radiated by that truth. Against a background of
the ever increasing historical processes, which seem at the present time to
have results especially within the spheres of various systems, ideological
concepts of the world and regimes, Jesus Christ becomes, in a way, newly
present, in spite of all his apparent absences, in spite of all the limitations
of the presence and of the institutional activity of the Church. Jesus Christ
becomes present with the power of the truth and the love that are expressed in
him with unique unrepeatable fullness in spite of the shortness of his life on
earth and the even greater shortness of his public activity.[iv]
The bolded statement is the quote from Gaudium et spes; while the line marked in blue, shows Pope John Paul II's statement on how
Christ’s Incarnation affects all of humanity, and how it is the specific
mission of the Church that each and every person find Christ through this
special mystery. There is no indication
here that John Paul II believes that all men will be saved. He states that it is the wish and mission of
the Church that all mankind be saved.
In his supposed Universalist statement, John Paul II
is actually referring back to the above and the next paragraph of section 13,
which states that “Jesus Christ is the chief way for the Church. He himself is our way “to the Father’s house”[v]
and is the way to each man.” He
continues on to speak of the Church’s concern for every man’s welfare and
dignity and how she is “a sign and a safeguard of the transcendence of the human
person”[vi]
without regard to political systems.
Now the actual paragraph from with the “controversial”
quote came from says as follows:
Accordingly, what is in question here is man in all his truth, in
his full magnitude. We are not dealing with the "abstract" man, but
the real, "concrete", "historical" man. We are dealing with "each"
man, for each one is included in the mystery of the Redemption and with each
one Christ has united himself for ever through this mystery. Every man
comes into the world through being conceived in his mother's womb and being
born of his mother, and precisely on account of the mystery of the Redemption is
entrusted to the solicitude of the Church. Her solicitude is about the whole
man and is focused [sic] on him in an altogether special manner. The object of
her care is man in his unique unrepeatable human reality, which keeps intact
the image and likeness of God himself92. The Council points out
this very fact when, speaking of that likeness, it recalls that "man is
the only creature on earth that God willed for itself"93. Man as "willed" by God, as "chosen" by him
from eternity and called, destined for grace and glory-this is "each"
man, "the most concrete" man, "the most real"; this is man
in all the fullness of the mystery in which he has become a sharer in Jesus
Christ, the mystery in which each one of the four thousand million human beings
living on our planet has become a sharer from the moment he is conceived
beneath the heart of his mother.[vii]
John Paul
II is clearly stating that he, like the Council, is not speaking in abstracts;
he is speaking about real men. Because
of the Incarnation, not only has Christ elevated the dignity of man but He has
entrusted every man to His Church. Man
is made in the image of God, and His Church is given the task of keeping that
image and likeness “intact”. The Church
is to respect and preserve the dignity of man and bring “each man” to Christ. So, when John Paul II speaks of Christ being
united forever with each man, he is speaking of the dignified status His
Incarnation has given each man. In no
way can what John Paul II said be construed as Universalism, except by taking
that one statement out of context and twisting it into that meaning. He does not state that this unity (through the
mystery of the Incarnation) equates to the salvation of all.
[i] Vatican Council II: Pastoral Constitution on the Church in
the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 22: AAS 58 ( 1966) 1042 http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_cons_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html
[ii] Ibid.
Footnotes for GS 22: 21. Cf. 2
Cor. 4:4. 22. Cf. Second Council
of Constantinople, canon 7: "The divine Word was not changed into a
human nature, nor was a human nature absorbed by the Word." Denzinger 219
(428); Cf. also Third Council of Constantinople: "For just as His most
holy and immaculate human nature, though deified, was not destroyed (theotheisa
ouk anerethe), but rather remained in its proper state and mode of being":
Denzinger 291 (556); Cf. Council of Chalcedon:" to be acknowledged in two
natures, without confusion change, division, or separation." Denzinger 148
(302). 23. Cf. Third Council of
Constantinople: "and so His human will, though deified, is not
destroyed": Denzinger 291 (556). 24. Cf. Heb. 4:15. http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_cons_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html
[iii] Ibid.
[iv] Redemptor Hominis, 13. 86.
Cf. Pope Paul VI: Encyclical Ecclesiam Suam: AAS 56 (1964)
609-659. 87. V atican Council II: Pastoral Constitution on
the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 22: AAS 58 (
1966) 1042.
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_04031979_redemptor-hominis_en.html
[v] Cf. Jn 14:1ff.
[vi] GS 76
[vii] LG 13 footnotes: 92. Cf.
Gen 1:26. 93. GS 24; AAS 5B (1966) 1045.
Hi cathmom5, Great work thus far. I've just begun reading your response more in depth. Too be clear too, my initial article did post a synopsis from both sides of the debate and asked for thoughts and support for either side. Like I said, great work thus far.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why but I can't read your comment, Scott. You do know that the other 3 parts are posted below this one. I thought I'd break it up for easier reading, but I put them on the blog in order. I'd love to see the rest of your comment.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, here's that comment from earlier:
ReplyDeleteHi cathmom5, Great work thus far. I've just begun reading your response more in depth. Too be clear too, my initial article did post a synopsis from both sides of the debate and asked for thoughts and support for either side. Like I said, great work thus far.