New Commentary on Dominus Iesus

VATICAN, Oct. 23, 00 (CWNews.com) - The official Vatican newspaper has published yet another commentary on Dominus Iesus, the document published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in September to reaffirm Catholic teaching regarding the unique role of Jesus Christ and his Church in salvation.

Archbishop Marcello Zago, the secretary of the Congregation for Evangelization, wrote the most recent in a series of articles published in L'Osservatore Romano to follow up on the impact of Dominus Iesus. The article by Bishop Zago, picking up on the theme of the Jubilee for missions, stressed the importance of the new Vatican document for inter-religious dialogue.

The purpose of missionary work, the archbishop wrote, is "to contribute toward the salvation of souls." That purpose remains unchanged today, he stressed, despite differences in the approaches that some missionaries take.

Archbishop Zago deplored the tendency among some missionaries, and some theologies, to "reduce missionary work to human development or social transformation." He also expressed his severe misgivings over some forms of liberation theology which express missionary work in purely social and political terms.

In fact, he continued, there are several different aspects to missionary work, including the proclamation of the Gospel, inter-religious dialogue, work to improve living conditions, and attempts to integrate the Catholic faith into the culture. None of these aspects should be neglected, he said; but if any one aspect of missionary work has top priority, it must be "the proclamation of salvation and conversion to our Lord Jesus."

Catholic World News Service - Vatican Update
23. oktober 2000