"Council of Trent Has Complete Validity" -- "Luther Rehabilitation Impossible": Cardinal Eijk and Ecumenism

Update: thanks to the kind reader who alerted us to the Vatican Insider article from which this is taken.  Apparently now, the Cardinal is saying that he was't quoted directly,  The following was included:

Sparks flew as a result, with an open letter being sent by the Rev. Arjen Plaisier (spokesman for the Synod of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands) to Cardinal Eijk, who refused to answer for or discuss phrases which he had never used. He also said that the Dutch Catholic Church’s ecumenical office or the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity may begin discussing some of the phrasings used in the Council of Trent. The Archbishop of Utrecht stressed his adherence to the ecumenical path followed by the Church and that he fully backed the Pope’s efforts in this field.

(Amsterdam) Violent polemics were triggered in the Netherlands with the words of the Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht, Willem Jacobus Cardinal Eijk. Here, the Cardinal had only reminded what is self-evident. He said in an interview during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity that the Council of Trent still has full force and effect.   Because this self-evident fact has been very little heard any more in the past few decades, it is supposed to have caused a scandal that has provoked fierce reactions toward Protestant as well as Catholic-ecumenical circles.

"Condemnation of Those Who Reject the Teachings of the Council, Have Full Force and Effect"

During the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Calvinist  Reformatorisch Dagblad  published an interview with Cardinal Eijk, which was taken up by the daily newspaper Trouw on 20 January. Within, the Archbishop of Utrecht said that "the doctrine and the condemnations of the Council of Trent are still in full force."  The newspaper wrote: "Cardinal Eijk is explicit in this respect: The Council of Trent's teachings are still perfectly valid. This also applies to convictions which were adopted against those who reject the Council's teachings. Like the Protestants."

The title and the editorial part of the interview had not been seen and approved in advance by the Cardinal. The interview itself was, however, released by the Archbishop for reprinting. It was also published on the website of the Dutch Bishops' Conference.

"Council of Trent Proves the Church's Ability at Self-Reform"

Cardinal Eijk stressed in an interview that the Council of Trent a sign of "the ability of the Roman Catholic Church for self-reform", thanks to the "guidance of the Holy Spirit." The Council of Trent, said the Archbishop of Utrecht, put and end to the many abuses which had crept in the late Middle Ages in the Church,  such as simony, an understanding of the pastoral office, which contradicted the biblical understanding. But it put an end was put to the fundamental  lack of discipline of the clergy and in the monasteries: "When all decrees were implemented [the Council],  order was restored  in the Church,"  said the cardinal.

The Council of Trent also helped to define some "truths of faith" precisely related to the errors of the Reformation. The cardinal affirmed that these provisions continue to have perfect validity "such as transubstantiation and the essence of the Eucharistic Sacrament."

"Many Have a False Picture of the Catholic Church and false Image of God"

Cardinal Eijk said the condemnations and excommunications apply to those who "knowingly and voluntarily" reject the Church's teaching. "In some ways, it is a theoretical question. Many people have a false image of the Catholic Church because they were brought up that way. Or they have a false image of God. But they can not be held personally liable.The condemnations of Trent does not mean that someone is condemned for all eternity by God. God judges each individual, a person can not do that."

Rehabilitation of  Luther is not Possible

Finally, Cardinal Eijk rejected the desired Lutherans'  "rehabilitation" of Martin Luther: "For major issues he had deviated from Church doctrine. And this doctrine remains as it is." For this reason, the differences are given unchanged, which makes   a "rehabilitation" impossible.

The Cardinal took advantage of the interview for a positive evaluation of the Church's renewal  by the Counter-Reformation, which the Holy Spirit knitted performed by the self-cleaning of the Church thorough the Council of Trent and its decrees, the complete validity of the doctrine of the Council of Trent, especially with regard to the Eucharist. Also with regard to the convictions, he reminded them that they apply in the matter, but do not automatically apply to the individual person.  They presuppose a conscious rejection of the Catholic doctrine.

Criticism by Protestants and Catholic Ecumenists

The interview sparked a storm of negative reactions that mainly came from the ecumenical field. Also from Catholics. The overall tenor was that it was considered "inappropriate" that the Cardinal  recalled things that "separate and don't unify"   in the Week of Prayer. Then there was a series of statements attributed to the Cardinal which were placed in the mouth, which he had not at all taken.

Arjen Plaisir, the speaker of the Synod of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands wrote an open letter to Cardinal Eijk.In his response, the Archbishop of Utrecht said that certain formulations of the Council of Trent could be spoken in the  limits by the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity. He stands for the ecumenical journey and supports all the efforts of the pope in this direction.

 Interview Reproduced Correctly

Emiel Hakkenes, the editorial director of religion and philosophy for the daily newspaper Trouw confirmed to Vatican Insider that the content of the interview given by Cardinal Eljik was   entirely correct. [!] The editors have asked for Protestant representatives to give their opinion. The chief editor of the Reformatorisch Dagblad announced that the interview was presented to the Cardinal before the publication and expressly approved of it.

In order to address   the question raised by Cardinal Eijk, the document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith  was issued in 2000 clarifying the Declaration Dominus Iesus on the uniqueness and salvific universality of Jesus Christ and the Church's binding position. A clarification to the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification had been signed on  Reformation Day in 1999  by the then chairman of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Chairman of the Lutheran World Federation and the World Council of Methodist Churches.

The responses to the interview with Cardinal Eijk laid bare how little the Catholic doctrine is known publicly and also among the Protestant interlocutors. Not least because it has been so little stressed from the Catholic side.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Wikicommons

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

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