VATICAN CITY, MAR. 15, 2001 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II has written a letter to the nine German cardinals, warning about the rise of secularization in the German Church.
The letter asks the cardinals for their specific commitment to crucial issues, including the teaching of theology and catechesis, marriage and the family, ecumenism, and cooperation between the clergy and laity. The Holy Father gave them the letter Feb. 22, the day after he created 44 new cardinals, four of whom were German.
In the seven-page letter, the Pope recognizes the dynamism of the German Church and its solidarity with individuals and populations in situations of poverty in different parts of the world. However, he says that, despite the solid ecclesial organizational structure, the growth of secularization runs the risk of weakening the Church in its interior.
“The fact cannot be ignored that increasingly more people abandon the active life of faith, or accept only part of the Gospel and the Church´s magisterium,” he said.
The Holy Father insists on the importance that the teaching of theology and catechesis be faithful to the magisterium, and points out the bishops´ responsibility in specific areas. “Those who carry out the service of the magisterium and pastoral care on behalf of the Church,” he writes, “must be firmly anchored in the faith of the Church, so as not to give in to the spirit of the age or to resignation.”
The Pope gives special attention to the difficult situation of marriage and the family. At this time of great changes in mentality and in legislation itself, with grave consequences for humanity, the Holy Father asks the bishops to “give clear direction, so that many believers will respond to the plan of the Creator on marriage and the family, so that they will educate children and youth in the faith, and remain faithful to moral principles.”
In this connection, the Pope refers to the teachings of the 1968 encyclical “Humanae Vitae” and the 1994 letter of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on Communion for the divorced who have remarried.
The Pontiff highlights the importance of ecumenism in his letter. But he also points out confusions and abuses, especially on the topic of intercommunion. “An ecumenism that leaves the question of truth more or less to one side, can only lead to apparent successes,” he writes.
In order to avoid confusions, the Pope proposes the recent declaration “Dominus Iesus,” of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as the solid foundation for the ecumenical dialogue.
Lastly, the Papal letter touches upon questions relating to the cooperation between priests and lay people, and their respective identity. It is urgent to avoid “abuses in the liturgy, preaching, catechesis, and guidance of communities in parish life.” He recommends the implementation of the 1997 instruction on the cooperation of lay faithful in the sacred ministry of priests, written by eight Vatican councils and congregations.
