Less Ecumenism, Please

One striking reform of the Vatican Council's third session last fall was the decree on ecumenism that authorized Roman Catholics, under certain circumstances, to participate in prayer services with Protestants and Jews. Many U.S. bishops assumed that the decree gave them considerable latitude to encourage interfaith contacts, and have done so. Now Rome has told them to slow down.

The orders came in a confidential letter to the bishops from Archbishop Egidio Vagnozzi, who as Apostolic Delegate in Washington serves as liaison between the American hierarchy and Rome. His letter warned that the Holy See is "deeply concerned" about "excesses" in interfaith religious services, which "give rise to great wonderment, and indeed bewilderment," among the faithful. "Until the Concilian Commission has established definitive norms regarding communicatio in sacris (worship in common), participation in such ceremonies should be avoided."

Vagnozzi said that he was simply passing along instructions, but his own diplomatic reports back to Rome might well have inspired the letter. A learned, witty papal diplomat, Vagnozzi previously served as the Vatican's ambassador to the Philippines; he is an ecclesiastical conservative who has kept a watchful eye on liberal tendencies in the U.S. church since he came to Washington in 1959. In 1961 he delivered a public warning against the dangerous methods being used by certain Catholic scriptural scholars. Two years ago, he persuaded a few U.S. bishops to cancel speaking engagements by Swiss Theologian Hans Kung. More recently, he has advised U.S. church authorities to hush some outspoken lay Catholic journalists, notably Freelance Writer Michael Novak (A New Generation, The Open Church), a doctoral student at Harvard. The American hierarchy does not much relish Vagnozzi's intervention. "A Papal Nuncio is one step higher than an Apostolic Delegate," mused one U.S. cardinal. "Maybe we can get him named Nuncio to Lapland."

The warning did not reflect any lessening of ecumenical interest on the part of Pope Paul VI, who last month authorized Augustin Cardinal Bea to set up a theological "working group" to explore the possibilities of collaboration with the World Council of Churches.

The slowdown order came from the Secretariat of State, headed by Amleto Cardinal Cicognani, Vagnozzi's predecessor as Apostolic Delegate and one of Rome's most powerful conservatives.

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