Full series title: “DOMINUS IESUS: A MILESTONE IN RATZINGER’S LEGACY WHICH ASSURES OUR FUTURE IN HOPE”

So, what was all the fuss? What so irritated the critics of DOMINUS IESUS that a well-documented, re-affirmation of perennial Catholic doctrine would be shockingly rejected?

From the objectors’ point of view, inter-religious dialogue and Christian ecumenism were harmed by this CDF Declaration. They felt that progress was halted and successes reversed. Apparently, they were blind to the document’s value to inform both authentically .

By displaying an obstinate loyalty to the theories which justify religious pluralism (one way to God is as good as another / religions other than Christianity are salvific / one religion is as good as another ), the critics portrayed themselves as more loving of non-Christians and more ecumenical than the Teaching Church.

Were they experiencing doubt and confusion about Jesus Christ, God’s Catholic Church and the Lord Jesus’ command to evangelize? If unable to say ‘thanks be to God’ to the mystery of mercy revealed in the Lord’s desire that everyone be saved through the knowledge of the truth of the Gospel, they must have been undergoing a profound crisis of faith. They rejected God’s complete and trustworthy revelation (self-disclosure) in the Son of God made man.

Anyone can read DOMINUS IESUS to discover its faithfulness to Sacred Tradition which includes faithfulness to Scripture, to Ecumenical Councils including Vatican II, and to Papal Encyclicals and Apostolic Exhortations. The first part of the Declaration focused on the Church’s relationship to other religions (non-Christian) and that salvation comes only through Jesus Christ. The document’s second part addressed the Church’s relationship to other Christians and ecclesial groups and that the fullness of divine truth is found only in the Catholic Church.

The Introduction reminds readers:

1. The Lord Jesus commanded us to proclaim the Gospel to the whole world, make disciples and baptize all nations.
2. The mission is far from complete.
3. The Magisterium gives reasons for and supports evangelization. (1 Cor. 9:16)
4. Inter-religious dialogue does not replace evangelization but is part of the Church’s mission to evangelize.

THE FULLNESS AND DEFINITIVENESS OF THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST

1. John 14:6; Matt. 11:27; John 1:18; Colossians 2:9,10
2. John 3:34, John 5:36; John 17:4; John 14:9; 1 Timothy 6:14; Titus 2:13
3. Redemptoris missio, 5; Fides et ratio, 14
4. John 16:13
5. The obedience of faith is the proper response to God’s revelation (DV, 4).
6. The distinction between theological faith and belief in the other religions must held
7. The Church’s tradition reserves the designation of inspired texts to the the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments, since they are inspired by the Holy Spirit.
8. These books firmly, faithfully, and without error, teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Sriptures (DV, 11)

THE INCARNATE LOGOS AND THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE WORK OF SALVATION

1. Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary, he alone, is the Son and Word of the Father.
2. John 1:2; John 1:14; John 1:18
3. To introduce any sort of separation between the Word and Jesus Christ is contrary to the Christian faith (RM, 6).
4. The action of the (Holy) Spirit is not outside or parallel to the action of Christ.
5. No one can enter into communion with God except through Christ, by the working of the Holy Spirit (RM, 5).

UNICITY AND UNIVERSALITY OF THE SALVIFIC MYSTERY OF JESUS CHRIST

1. The truth of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Lord and only Savior, who through the event of his incarnation, death and resurrection has brought the history of salvation to its fulfillment, and which has in him its fullness and center, must be firmly believed as a constant element of the Church’s faith.
2. 1 John 4:14; John 1:29; Acts 4:12; Acts 10:36,42,43; 1 Corinthians 8:5-6; John 3:16-17; 1 Timothy 2:4-6
3. Christ who died and was raised for the sake of all can, through his Spirit, give man the light and the strength to be able to respond to his highest calling, nor is there any other name under heaven given among men by which they can be saved (Gaudium et spes, 10).
4. Solutions that propose a salvific action of God beyond the unique mediation of Christ would be contrary to Christian and Catholic faith (Lumen gentium, 62; Redemptoris mission, 5).
5. Christ’s uniqueness “gives him an absolute and universal significance whereby, while belonging to history, he remains history’s center and goal: ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end’ (Revelation 22:13)” Redemptoris mission, 6.

Catholic and Christian faith is all about Jesus who is the absolute and definitive revelation of God.

Next Article: “The fullness of divine truth is found only in the Catholic Church.”

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