The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Desmond Connell, has defended the controversial Dominus Iesus document. He described it as a statement of "the authentic teachings of the Magisterium (supreme authority)" of the Church.
In a statement following the publication of the document on September 5th the Church of Ireland bishops asked the Irish Catholic bishops to clarify the implications of Dominus Iesus for ecumenism here. Dr Connell's is the first public comment by an Irish Catholic bishop on the document since its publication.
Interviewed in the current issue of the Irish Catholic, Dr Connell disagreed that the document was unecumenical. "The most fundamental thing about ecumenism is that we should understand one another and our different positions," he said.
The document said, in the context of other Christian denominations: "There exists a single Church of Christ, which subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of Peter and by bishops in communion with him."
In reference to the Protestant denominations, it said those "ecclesial communities" which "had not preserved the valid episcopate and the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic mystery, are not Churches in the proper sense."
Where other religions were concerned, it said that it was "certain, objectively speaking, they are in a gravely deficient situation." God had willed "that the Church founded by him be the instrument for the salvation of all (document's emphasis) humanity," it said.
In the Irish Catholic interview Dr Connell said he found it disappointing that ecumenical dialogue was not sufficiently concerned with matters of doctrine. Because of this an impression could be given "that doctrine doesn't matter and ecumenism all takes place at the surface level," he said.
He also disagreed that the language of Dominus Iesus was ungenerous and that, while there were different ways of expressing things, the benefit of logic was clarity. He emphasised that the Pope fully approved the document and that it had a higher level of approval than Pope Paul VI gave the 1976 Inter Insignires document on the ordination of women.
Last week Cardinal Edward Cassidy, president of the Vatican's Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, said Dominus Iesus did not faithfully represent the Catholic Church's position on ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue. He also said it had not been signed by the Pope but by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Dr Connell said it was inaccurate to describe Dominus Iesus as Cardinal Ratzinger's document. It had been vetted and approved by all members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he said. Dr Connell is a member of the CDF, as is Cardinal Cassidy.
