Italian church rocked by attack on Pope

by Viviane Hewitt in Rome
THE Italian Episcopal conference this week has issued a stern rebuke in reply to an unexpected open letter from 63 of Italy's leading theologians criticising the contemporary Church..
The three-page letter, outlining four points of contention, will be published in the bi-monthly 11 Regno (Kingdom), the first religious publication to print the protests of the original 163 North European theologians who adhered to the dissenting document, the Declaration of Cologne.
Since the publication of the Declaration of Cologne in January, about 200 more theologians throughout Europe have added their voice to the criticism of alleged Vatican centralisation trends and intransigence on social issues.
But the Italian open letter, raising similar objections though less factious in tone, has come as a surprise. It urges that the doctrinal significance of Vatican Council 11 reforms should not be minimised in their application. This is thought to represent distention from recent remarks by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who inferred that Vatican II was pastoral, without the doctrinal weight of other councils.
The Italians' second point interpreted by some in Rome as a reference to "papal showmanship" proposes that the "style of the Church should not be conditioned by worldly logic".
The theologians also call for respect for "variety within the Church even as far as episcopal conference statutes are concerned and in the nomination of bishops".
Lastly, the open letter claims the right to freedom of research for theologians, with no "spirit of intolerance", even in the field of ethics. The letter concludes: "We have simply tried to indicate some of the points of reference we maintain are essential so that common debate and procedures for the faithful do not regress . . Above all, we hope that in the years to come, we will all seek that which unites us rather than that which divides".
Among the letter's adherents are Mgr Luigi Sartori, President Of Italian theologians, Mgr Enrico Chiavacci, moral theology professor, and Mgr Severino Dianich, President of Italy's moral theologians.
Although the Episcopal Conference recognised that the document was a considerably watered-down version of the Declaration of Cologne, it stressed it was not "in synthesis with upright ecclesiastical sentiments and behaviour".
"It is our duty to warn the faithful to be on their guard", said a spokesman for the Cardinal Vicar of Rome and Episcopal Conference President, Ugo Poletti.