Pope Benedict XVI asserted yesterday that the Roman Catholic Church is the "one church" that Christ "established here on Earth" and that other Christian denominations "cannot be called 'churches' in the proper sense" - a statement that prompted condemnation and confusion as well as expressions of understanding from Protestants and Orthodox Christians.
"We are not the ones to whom this document is addressed. It is addressed to Catholics," said Ann Riggs, an associate general secretary of the National Council of Churches USA, which comprises most major American Orthodox and Protestant faith groups.
"Rome is certainly not saying the door is closed on ecumenical dialogue," she said in a statement.
But the Rev. Setri Nyomi, the general secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, with 75 million members worldwide, said: "An exclusive claim that identifies the Roman Catholic Church as the one church of Jesus Christ ... goes against the spirit of our Christian calling toward oneness in Christ.
"It makes us question the seriousness with which the Roman Catholic Church takes its dialogues with the Reformed family and other families of the church," said Nyomi, an evangelical Presbyterian from Ghana.
The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued the document containing the pope's assertion of Catholic primacy on June 29, though it was published only yesterday. It is the second document in a week to clarify teachings from the Second Vatican Council of 1962-1965, which the current pope attended as a then-theological adviser to a German cardinal. The earlier document loosened rules allowing wider celebration of Masses in Latin.
Pope Benedict faced harsher criticism last year after he made remarks on the nature of Islam - a statement that triggered violent demonstrations in Muslim countries. The pope subsequently said that his intentions had been misinterpreted and expressed regret that his words had caused turmoil.
Catholic theologians pointed out that the document echoed earlier statements on ecumenism issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith when it was led by the future pope, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
"It's a clarification of the meaning of the word church," said Lawrence S. Cunningham, who writes a column for the Catholic magazine Commonweal and is a theologian at the University of Notre Dame. "Behind this document is the worry that the language of ecumenism has become too flabby and too imprecise, and too Pollyannish about glossing over real doctrinal positions."
The document said the Catholic Church alone has "the fullness of the means of salvation."
The Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches separated in the schism of 1054, and since then the Orthodox community does not recognize the pope's primacy - a defect, according to the document. Protestant denominations, meanwhile, lack "apostolic succession," the ability to trace their bishops back to the 12 Apostles, it said.
At the same time, the Vatican "would not deny that Lutherans or Methodists or Evangelicals ... have elements of the faith but do not constitute a church in the technical sense," Cunningham said.
Still, "not everyone's going to love this clarity," he said.
George Weigel, who has written biographies of Pope Benedict and his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, said the document contains nothing new, and questioned why it had been issued now.
It "does not deny the presence of God's grace in other Christian communions, but the Catholic Church is never going to say ... that it is anything other than the most properly ordered expression of the will of Christ for his church," he said.
"If people do not want to contend with that, then ecumenism has simply become another form of political correctness," Weigel said.
Chester L. Gillis, a Georgetown University theologian, said the document, along with endorsement of the Latin Mass, was "clearly part of an overall pattern, of a clear move toward more conservatism and toward muting the effects of Vatican II."
The pope has long complained that the intent of Vatican II had been distorted by church liberals, who viewed the council as a departure from past practice rather than a continuation of church tradition in the modern world.
Weigel faulted the Vatican for failing to place documents on ecumenism in context, leading to the pope's intentions being misinterpreted.
"The inability of the Vatican to communicate the meaning of these documents is a serious problem, but it's a serious problem magnified by the inability of the Western press to admit that its cartoon picture of Joseph Ratzinger was mistaken," he said.
Gillis said church theologians are the real audience for the document issued yesterday and that a careful reading shows that the pope was emphasizing how close the Catholic Church is to the Orthodox religion.
"It seems to me that the church is trying to send a signal about how they understand the Catholic Church vis a vis other Christian communities," he said.
Leaders of congregations in Maryland agreed that the Vatican could be seen as opening doors for further conversation rather than closing them.
"I just find it more of an object to come together and work even harder," said Rev. Constantine Moralis, dean of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation in Mount Vernon. "There are more things that unite us than what separate us."
The Rev. John R. Sharp, a Presbyterian and vice president of the Central Maryland Ecumenical Council, predicted that discussions will proceed.
"There's different ways to look at unity, and that's what this dialogue is all about," he said. "The dialogue's going to continue."
liz.kay@baltsun.com