Lumen Gentium, Unitatis Redintegratio and Ecumenical Catholicity
One of the key achievements of Vatican II was its fundamental rethinking of Roman Catholic engagement with other Christian churches. Half a century before the Council, Pius XI had issued a clear papal statement on cumenism in his encyclical Mortalium Animos with a view to curbing the rather limited enthusiasms of Désiré Cardinal Mercier at Malines. According to Pius XI, the purpose of ecumenical dialogue, or even of conversation, was to be directed to one end only, that of ensuring the return of heretical or schismatic sheep to the one true flock. Ecumenism meant simply a return and an end of wandering. After Vatican II, the Catholic Church articulated an understanding of itself as a pilgrim people of God, which, together with God’s other people, was on a journey into God’s future.
* Full article available in printed copies.
Andrew Pierce
is Head of School of the Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin.