A Roman Catholic apology for the past sins of its members

Scope, language, implications, reactions

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Scope of the report:

The report refers to various past admissions of error, such as that made by Pope Hadrian VI, Pope Paul VI and Vatican II. But it emphasizes that Pope John Paul II's latest apology is unique in church history because  "...he also extended a request for forgiveness..." 

The subtitle of the document "The church and faults of the past" would seem to imply that the Commission was apologizing for past errors, faults, abuses, criminal acts, immoral acts, etc. by the church. However, the document takes a different approach; it is individuals, not the church itself, who are blamed for the misdeeds. The Roman Catholic church teaches that the church is composed of two components:

The Church as an institution is viewed as pure, without fault. It is maintained by God to be free of error, both in the past and in the present. It is only individual members of the Church who bear responsibility for past horrors and inhumanities. The report states:

"From a theological point of view, Vatican II distinguishes between the indefectible fidelity of the Church and the weaknesses of her members, clergy or laity, yesterday and today." 

The document quotes Pope John Paul's 1994 Apostolic Letter 'Tertio millennio adveniente':

"Hence it is appropriate that as the second millennium of Christianity draws to a close the Church should become ever more fully conscious of the sinfulness of her children, recalling all those times in history when they departed from the spirit of Christ and His Gospel and, instead of offering to the world the witness of a life inspired by the values of her faith, indulged in ways of thinking and acting which were truly forms of counter-witness and scandal. Although she is holy because of her incorporation into Christ, the Church does not tire of doing penance. Before God and man, she always acknowledges as her own her sinful sons and daughters." ₁

Many observers believe that both individuals within the church, and the institution of the church itself should have born responsibility at the time of the massacres of Jews, Muslims, heretics, and members of various breakaway religious sects. 

Language of the apologies:

The language used in both Pope John Paul II's apology and the "Memory and Reconciliation" seems to downplay the seriousness of the sins and errors committed:

Present and future implications of the apology:

The pope has documented some of the past faults and errors by the church. Not covered is the possibility that some present policies by the hierarchy are also in error, and will have to be the subject of future apologies. If so, then any Roman Catholic who follows controversial church teachings may well be contributing to present-day errors within the church.

There have been many dozens of reversals of church belief in the past: ₂

There is every likelihood that the church will reverse some of its current teachings as well. There are many current controversies in which the church is opposed by both religious and secular forces. Some examples in the area of human sexuality are: Priestly celibacy, female ordination, use of most methods of birth control, equal rights for homosexuals, including the right to marry, pre-marital sex, in-vitro fertilization, abortion, emergency contraception, a.k.a. "the morning after pill." It quite possible that these controversies will be settled in favor of secular ideas, and that the church will eventually admit its errors. One might envision a scenario in which a pope in the year 3000 issues a similar "Memory and Reconciliation" document, recognizing past errors and apologizing for past sins, some committed at this time. 

Reactions to the document and papal apology:

"what many Jews say they are waiting to hear: an apology by the church for its actions as an institution during the Nazi persecution of the Jews during [the] last century."

The document did refer to "a lot of Christians [who] risked their life to save and lend assistance to the Jews they knew." It quotes from a papal document of 1998 that:

"the spiritual resistance and the concrete action of other Christians weren't what one could have expected from disciples of Christ."

But it made no apologies for the actions and inactions of the church as an institution.

According to CNN, Israel's Chief Rabbi, Israel Meir Lau, described the latest reference to the Holocaust as:

"...quite disappointing...It adds nothing to the low-key statements made in the past. It is impossible to correct a crime of the past without any mention, for example, of Pius XII, when he stood on the blood of the victims and did not say a word." (Pius XII is currently being considered by the church for beatification, one step below sainthood.)

Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League issued the following news release on 2000-MAR-12:

"Pope John Paul II has missed an historic opportunity to bring closure to Christian responsibility for specific sins against the Jewish people over the past 2,000 years. We are saddened and disappointed that this pontiff, who has done so much to further Catholic-Jewish relations, stopped short in addressing specific Catholic wrongs against the Jewish people, especially the Holocaust."

"Since the beginning of Christianity and over two millennia, Jews have suffered as a result of the church's teaching of contempt, which created the anti-Semitic environment that made the Holocaust possible. Because Pope John Paul II has been so courageously outspoken on behalf of the Jewish people and the legitimacy of Judaism, we are especially disheartened that there was no specific mention of the greatest sin of this century tolerated by Christianity and committed by many Christians -- the Holocaust."

"We hope the Holy Father, during his historic trip to Israel, will seize the opportunity to address the matters missed in today's Liturgy of Forgiveness." ₃

The trip to Israel refers to his talk at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial on 2000-MAR-23.

"... forcing pagans to convert, desecrating their sacred sites, and collaborating with states to persecute and execute pagans during the Inquisition which began during the 13th century." ₅

Neither the Pope's verbal apology nor the report addressed the past maltreatment and executions of Pagans specifically. However, it did make a vague reference to activities which might be interpreted as including Pagan abuse and murder.

The "Memory and Reconciliation" report calls Nazism a pagan ideology. Some will probably interpret this as implying that the Holocaust and the other activities of World War II were planned and executed by Pagans. The term "Pagan" is frequently defined as persons who do not follow an Abrahamic religion. i.e. people who do not follow the Jewish, Christian, or Muslim. The 47% of the world's population who follow Buddhism, Hinduism, Neopaganism and many other non-Abrahamic religions may well object to this interpretation of history.

"The requests for forgiveness made by the Bishop of Rome in this spirit of authenticity and gratuitousness have given rise to various reactions. ... Many have noted the increased credibility of ecclesial pronouncements that has resulted from this way of acting. Some reservations, however, have also been voiced, mainly expressions of unease connected with particular historical and cultural contexts in which the simple admission of faults committed by the sons and daughters of the Church may look like acquiescence in the face of accusations made by those prejudicially hostile to the Church." 

Father Jean-Louis Brugues noted that Roman Catholics from outside the United States and Europe had expressed discomfort at atoning for the sins of past church leaders. He said: "There was also concern, especially in areas where Christians are in a minority, that seeking forgiveness might be seen as a sign of weakness.'' ₇  

Apology by Cardinal R.M. Mahony:

Cardinal Mahoney issued a public apology on 2000-MAR-7 on the eve of Ash Wednesday. He apologized on behalf of himself and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, CA which he leads. Some of the topics included in his apology were:

He made apologies to specific groups:

This apology is notable because Cardinal Mahony accepted personal responsibility for his errors, and apologizes on behalf of the Archdiocese for its failings. He identifies specific groups and describes how they were harmed by himself and the archdiocese. However, he does not make any indication that he will work within the worldwide church to promote policy changes towards groups who are still suffering -- notably gays, lesbians, women seeking ordination, and remarried Catholics.

References used:

The following information sources were used to prepare the above report in the year 2000, and update it since. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. John Paul II, "Tertio Millennio Adveniente (As the Third Millennium Draws Near)," 1994-NOV-14, at: http://www.cin.org/
2. Maureen Fiedler & Linda Rabben, Eds., "Rome has spoken: A guide to forgotten papal statements, and how they changed through the centuries." Crossroad, (1998) Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store
3. "ADL Reacts to Pope's Liturgy of Forgiveness," ADL news release, 2000-MAR-12.
4. "The committee for the Pope's millennium apology," at: http://www2.bc.edu/
5. "Pagans call for apology from Catholics," EWTN News, 2000-FEB-11, at: http://www.ewtn.com/
6. John P. Murphy, "The apology of John Paul II," AANEWS, 2000-MAR-6
7. Crispian Balmer, "Catholic Church establishes forgiveness framework," Reuters, 2000-MAR-1. See: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/ This appears to be offline.

Copyright © 2000 to 2007 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2000-MAR-8
Latest update: 2007-FEB-07
Author: B.A. Robinson