by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
In his message to the bishops at the opening of the CELAM Conference in Puebla, John Paul II gives us the reason for the change that has taken place in the Church—as I described in the previous article—and that has resulted in an impressive number of bishops and priests no longer focusing on the eternal purpose of their mission but rather on earthly life alone.
In a section titled “The Truth About Jesus Christ,” the pontiff shows that at the root of this change is a doctrinal error stemming from “re-readings of the Gospel” (“re-reading” is the modern and cheerful term by which certain theologians refer to reinterpretation). These “reinterpretations” are “the result of theoretical speculations rather than authentic meditation on the word of God” and cause serious harm to souls.[1]
What do such “reinterpretations” lead to? The pontiff enumerates: “In some cases, either Christ’s divinity is passed over in silence, or some people in fact fall into forms of interpretation at variance with the Church’s faith.”
Conflicting in what way? For the interpreters, John Paul II continues, “Christ is said to be merely a ‘prophet,’ one who proclaimed God’s Kingdom and love, but not the true Son of God, and therefore not the center and object of the very Gospel message.”
As the reader can see, in matters of Catholic faith, these denials are equivalent to a hydrogen bomb. For what is the Church of Jesus Christ reduced to without Jesus Christ, the Man-God?
Once the divinity of Jesus Christ is forgotten or denied, the extraterrestrial purpose of the Church, so prominent in the Constantinian and preconciliar eras, disappears.
This gives rise to another series of errors. If the Church no longer forms souls for Heaven, all the teachings and activities it placed in the foreground during the Constantinian era disappear, yielding entirely—or almost entirely—to what was “secondary” to it: social indoctrination and action.
This innovation is closely tied to the “evangelical reinterpretation” by innovators who, as John Paul II says, seek to “show Jesus as politically committed, as one who fought against Roman oppression and the authorities, and also as one involved in the class struggle.” These “reinterpreters” claim that the cause of Jesus Christ’s death was “the outcome of a political conflict, and nothing is said of the Lord’s will to deliver himself and of his consciousness of his redemptive mission.”
In this regard, John Paul II teaches that “this idea of Christ as a political figure, a revolutionary, as the subversive man from Nazareth, does not tally with the Church’s catechesis.”
As can be seen, such errors could hardly be more radical or serious. Where do they circulate? For example, in Latin America. This leads John Paul II to issue this categorical warning: “Evangelization in the present and future of Latin America cannot cease to affirm the Church’s faith.”
He further observes: “In the abundant documentation with which you have prepared this Conference, especially in the contributions of many Churches, a certain uneasiness is at times noticed with regard to the very interpretation of the nature and mission of the Church. Allusion is made, for instance, to the separation that some set up between the Church and the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is emptied of its full content and is understood in a rather secularist sense: it is interpreted as being reached not by faith and membership in the Church but by the mere changing of structures and social and political involvement, and as being present wherever there is a certain type of involvement and activity for justice. This is to forget that “the Church receives the mission to proclaim and to establish among all peoples the Kingdom of Christ and of God. She becomes on earth the seed and beginning of that Kingdom” (Lumen Gentium, 5).”
Since it is necessary to preach the truth about Jesus Christ, the same must be done regarding the Church’s mission. For, as has been said, because Christ is God, this mission is above all extraterrestrial. The pontiff thus draws the bishops’ attention to the fact that, “You are teachers of the Truth, and you are expected to proclaim unceasingly, but with special vigour at this moment, the truth concerning the mission of the Church, object of the Creed that we profess, and an indispensable and fundamental area for our fidelity.”
Given the length of this article and the previous one, let me quickly summarize what I have been saying before going any further:
a) I began by showing the full weight of the Ibero-American continent in the ecclesiastical affairs of today’s world and, ipso facto, in the temporal world as well.
b) I thus emphasized the scope of the CELAM meeting in Puebla, which brought together representatives of the episcopates of all Latin American nations for study and deliberation.
c) I then addressed the transformations that the indoctrination of a considerable number of clergymen has undergone lately: from the preaching of Jesus Christ, Man-God, founder of a Church with an extraterrestrial purpose, to the omission or denial of Jesus Christ, Man-God, and consequently to the denial of the extraterrestrial purpose of the Church, whose goal would be entirely earthly. From the affirmation of Jesus Christ as Man-God also follows the need to form each soul for Him and for eternal life. In comparison with this entirely spiritual and individual action, the observance of divine precepts by temporal societies plays a “secondary” but extremely important role.
d) I then showed, with the necessary citations, that John Paul II’s teaching on this vital matter is incompatible with the errors that have arisen regarding it, and that the pontiff emphasizes the seriousness of these errors and laments their spread in Latin America.
As a starting point for the next commentary, I would like to recall the texts in which John Paul II shows that the proponents of a merely earthly Church have a peculiar notion of Jesus Christ, “not the true Son of God,” but a “‘prophet,’ one who proclaimed God’s Kingdom and love,” who is a political leader in revolt against Roman domination, a “revolutionary” involved in the “class struggle;” in short, the “subversive man from Nazareth.”
As can be seen, here too “one abyss draws another” (Psalm 41:8). Those who deny Jesus Christ as Man-God and confine Him to the merely temporal realm ascribe to Him, even in that realm, a mission diametrically opposed to the specific earthly effects of His supernatural mission.
Summary
“Liberation theology,” “political engagement,” and “structural reforms” are expressions increasingly common among Latin American clergy, to the perplexity of a growing number of the faithful.
In Puebla, John Paul II has just condemned clergy who, by reinterpreting the Gospel, present Our Lord Jesus Christ not as the true Son of God but as a political leader in revolt against Roman domination, a “revolutionary” involved in the “class struggle,” and, in short, as the “subversive man from Nazareth.”
[1] Address of His Holiness John Paul II to the Third General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate. Puebla, Mexico, January 25-February 1, 1979). https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/1979/january/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19790128_messico-puebla-episc-latam.html. The topics in quotation marks are always from the text of the message.