Pope to Jesuits: Theology must be rooted in faith

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Dallas

Speaking today at Rome’s Jesuit-run Gregorian University, Pope Benedict XVI called the university to vigilance against two dangers:
•tA form of secular society that denies God and thereby “disorients and obfuscates the correct conscience of man”;
•tAn approach to inter-faith relations which “weakens the essential content of the Christian faith in Christ as the lone savior of all humanity, and in the church as the necessary sacrament of salvation for all humanity.”

“Human destiny, without reference to God, can only be the desolation of an agony that leads to desperation,” Benedict warned.

In general, Benedict was warmly positive in his visit to the Gregorian, repeatedly thanking the Jesuits for their service, pointing out that no fewer than 16 popes have been Gregorian alumni since the university was founded by St. Ignatius Loyola in 1551. He said he confirmed his predecessors’ will to entrust the Gregorian to the Jesuits.

By his own standards, Benedict was even nostalgic, briefly recalling a defense of the thesis of Jesuit Fr. Norbert Lohfink at the Gregorian during the Second Vatican Council – attended, the pope said, by “many cardinals” and also by “poor periti such as myself.”

Then-Fr. Joseph Ratzinger served as a peritus, or theological expert, at the Second Vatican Council (1962-65).

The pope briefly reviewed the impressive intellectual and cultural history of the Gregorian, noting, for example, that the “Gregorian” calendar today in use in most of the world was developed by a Jesuit scientist at the university, Fr. Cristoforo Clavio. That scientific learning, Benedict said, became part of the evangelizing work of Fr. Matteo Rici, which carried him as far as China.

Benedict’s language about inter-religious dialogue, however, was not without a bit of critical subtext. The Gregorian was the home for 20 years of Belgian Jesuit Fr. Jacques Dupuis, whose theological investigations of religious pluralism were the object of a lengthy investigation by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under then-Cardinal Ratzinger. It ended in a high-profile January 2001 “notification” warning of ambiguities which, it said, could compromise Catholic doctrines on the uniqueness of Christ and the church.

Dupuis was vigorously defended by many in the Jesuit community at the Gregorian, including his canonical advocate, Australian Fr. Gerald O’Collins, and the General of the Jesuits, Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach.

In that context, Benedict issued a strong, if indirect, challenge to the Gregorian to ensure that its intellectual explorations never become decoupled from the faith.

“Hope ensures that human beings do not become enclosed in a paralyzing and sterile nihilism, but open up to a generous commitment to improving the society in which they live,” he said.

Benedict encouraged the students and faculty at the Gregorian to be people of deep faith as well as intellectual acumen.

“It’s not enough to know God; in order to really meet God, one must also love,” the pope said. “Understanding must become love. The study of theology, of canon law and of church history is not merely understanding of the propositions of the faith in their historic formulations and in their practical applications, but it’s always their meaning in the faith, in hope and in charity.”

Finally, in the context of calling upon the Jesuits to respond generously when the society calls upon them to serve at the Gregorian, Benedict reminded the society of its famous “fourth vow” – of “complete availability to the Roman Pontiff in whatever he wishes to command.”

“Aware of how this can mean the sacrifice of other works and services, however valid for the ends that the Society proposes to reach, the Church is truly grateful to it and desires that the Gregorian conserve the Ignatian spirit which animates it, expressed in its pedagogic method and in the organization of studies,” Benedict said.