Set out to Form a More Perfect Union…Happy July 4th!!

As America’s 224th birthday comes around, it’s a good time to celebrate just how far we’ve come towards living out our ideals. And it’s also a good time to reflect on how far we still have to go, together as a nation.

For the Catholic Church, John Paul II most certainly lived up to this commitment. For John Paul II the vision of the Council was centered on Christ. Already in his first encyclical, Redemptor Hominis, he had emphasised a line from the document on the Church in the Modern World: “For, by his incarnation, he, the Son of God, has in a certain way united himself with each man”(Gaudium et Spes 22). He often referred to this truth in order to show that the Church, and therefore also the Pope, must be interested in all human beings, and not be deterred by religious differences. Similarly he took up another affirmation found in the same paragraph of Gaudium et Spes: Since Christ died for all (Romans 8:32), and since all men are in fact called to one end and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partners, in a way known to God, in the paschal mystery (GS 22). So people are not to be condemned just because they are not Christians. Recognizing that God, through the Holy Spirit, is at work in them, it is possible to engage in a dialogue which is not mere politeness but is a form of entering into the paschal mystery, a death to egoism in order to live for others. This is truly a dialogue of salvation.

In his teaching ministry John Paul II reflected on the impact of religious plurality. He saw it as his mission to apply the vision of the Second Vatican Council. Time and again he returned to the teaching of Nostra Aetate, the Declaration on the relations of the Church to Non Christian religions. Speaking once to Bishops from Iran he stated:

“The Second Vatican Council’s declaration Nostra Aetate gives clear indications that inspire the Church for its inter-religious dialogue. They are mainly: respect for one’s personal conscience, rejecting all forms of coercion or discrimination with regard to faith, freedom to practice one’s religion and give witness to it, as well as appreciation and esteem for all genuine religious traditions.”