In a rare step, Pope Benedict took the floor at the Bible Synod yesterday to recommend that the bishops adopt a proposition on how exegetes and theologians can better inform each other's work. The recommendation was delivered viva voce, as Pope Benedict took the microphone at the synod for the first time.
Immediately after the customary 10.30am coffee break after Archbishop Nikola Eterovich, secretary of the synod, informed the group that they would have to interrupt their normal program "because our president wishes to address us."
In a brief report, the official Vatican bulletin noted that "starting from the consideration of the work for his book Jesus of Nazareth, the Holy Father dwelt upon the fundamental criteria of Biblical exegesis, upon the dangers of a secularised and positivistic approach to the Scriptures and upon the need for a closer relationship between exegesis and theology."
Synod sources told Allen the Pope spoke for a little less than ten minutes, drawing upon notes that he had apparently made in a small notebook.
The Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, said the pope's talk echoed the 1993 document, "The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church," issued by the Pontifical Biblical Commission which was headed by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now the pope, CNS adds.
That document commented on the strengths and potential weaknesses of a variety of approaches currently found in biblical scholarship.
The pope said the historical-critical method of interpretation of Scriptures has helped people understand that sacred texts are not myths, but true history, and the method helps scholars understand the "deep unity of all of Scripture," the newspaper said.
However, an exegesis that exclusively uses a historical-critical method carries with it great risks, he said. L'Osservatore Romano reported the pope said such an interpretation could lead people to believe the Bible is only a book about the past.
The Pope said that if the hermeneutics of faith disappears and is replaced by a positivistic or secular hermeneutics, then the divine does not appear in history and, as is happening in the work of some biblical scholars in Germany, the resurrection of Christ is refuted.
"As part of his reflection, Benedict reportedly suggested to the bishops that a proposition on the relationship between exegesis and theology would be helpful, making it all but a foregone conclusion that at least one such proposition will be offered," John L. Allen noted.
It is the second time that Pope Benedict has chosen to address the bishops towards the end of the initial round of speechmaking at the Synod, as the agenda for the synod's final documents is beginning to take shape.
"In each case, Benedict has reflected briefly on what had emerged as a central concern during those opening speeches," Allen added.
Don't abandon ordinary ministry
In an earlier intervention, Congregation for Catholic Education prefect, Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, warned many priests dedicated to teaching forget or abandon ordinary ministry, in which the Word of God should be at the centre, Catholic News Agency reports.
During his intervention at the Synod, the cardinal pointed out that while "there are numerous institutes of study today, especially for the laity and consecrated persons, at the same time religious ignorance seems to be increasing."
The recent research, he continued, "carried out by the Catholic Biblical Federation in ten European countries has demonstrated an ignorance of basic facts about the Bible such as, ‘Are the gospels part of the Bible?' ‘Did Jesus write the Bible?', ‘Who was a person from the Old Testament between the time of Moses and Paul', and others."
"We do a lot," the cardinal said, "but perhaps we do not distribute our efforts reasonably in the different tasks and levels of teaching. The increase in institutes is often accompanied by less widespread teaching in ordinary ministry. The number of priests diminishes but the number of priests who feel called to be professors and leave behind ordinary pastoral care grows," he said.
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Sotto Voce
(Source: CTHN)