meanwhile in New Jerusalem . . .

[---]

New York Times, March 1, 2001
Vatican Rebukes a Theologian, but He Says He Can Work On
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
       ROME, Feb. 28 — Two years after it began an investigation into
accusations against him, the Vatican on Monday formally rebuked a
Belgian Jesuit theologian, the Rev. Jacques Dupuis, over his writings.
Obedient but unbowed, Father Dupuis said this week that he could "in
good conscience" continue with his work. 
    "The notification was not very pleasant," Father Dupuis, 77, said of
a Vatican document published on Monday that concluded that his writings
on religious pluralism "contained ambiguities" about doctrine that could
lead readers to "erroneous or harmful positions."
    "But after two and a half years of imposed silence, I feel free."
Father Dupuis said on Tuesday. 
    Only up to a point, though. 
    Father Dupuis complained that after he finally signed a notification
last December that the church had found errors in his work, the Vatican
added a paragraph explaining that his signature obliged him to "abide"
by the Vatican's objections. Father Dupuis said he felt he had agreed
only to take them into account, "which is very different," he said. 
    The long and secretive Vatican investigation of Father Dupuis, a
theology teacher at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, is only
one example of how Pope John Paul II is determined to rein in Catholic
theologians who stray from strict doctrinal orthodoxy. 
    The compromise reached by the Vatican allows Father Dupuis to
publish his book as long as he attaches the Vatican's conclusions — a
kind of theological surgeon general's warning. But in defending his
position and pointing out where he felt the Vatican had erred, Father
Dupuis lifted a veil from one of the most ancient and mysterious
procedures of the Roman Catholic Church, rooting out heresy. 
    In a commentary on Tuesday in L'Osservatore Romano, a Vatican
newspaper, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, director of the Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith, regretted the seemingly harsh tone of the
notification, but said he had no choice. "The clear,
declarative/assertive tone of a magisterial document," he wrote, "aims
at communicating to the faithful that one is not dealing with opiniable
arguments or disputed questions, but with the truth." 
    On Sept. 26, 1998, Cardinal Ratzinger notified the leader of the
Jesuit order that Father Dupuis's 1997 book, "Toward a Christian
Theology of Religious Pluralism," was under investigation. "I received
12 pages of questions," Father Dupuis recalled. "I sent a 200-page
reply." After seven months, he was informed that his answers were not
"satisfactory" and received an additional 12 pages of questions. He said
he responded with 60 more pages. 
    On Sept. 4, 2000, he was summoned to meet with Cardinal Ratzinger
and asked to sign a draft of a notification that found "grave errors" in
his work. "It became clear," Father Dupuis said, "that the text
submitted for my approval contained false accusations against my book."
 On Sept. 5, the Vatican issued a document by Cardinal Ratzinger that
laid out the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church and described other
denominations as "deficient." Several cardinals criticized the document,
but it was mostly aimed at reining in theologians like Father Dupuis. 
    The next day, Father Dupuis received a new draft that toned down
charges of "grave error" to "ambiguities." Father Dupuis said that his
superiors persuaded him that by signing "I would be able to continue my
theological work and remain faithful to my conscience and also to the church."