On November 23, Antipope Robert Prevost (“Leo XIV”) has published an “apostolic letter” with the title “In unitate fidei” (“In the unity of faith”). The topic is the anniversary of the Council of Nicea, the second ecumenical council of the Catholic Church after the Apostolic Council, recorded in Acts, chapter 15.
The Council of Nicea was convoked in 325 as a response to Arianism, a heresy made up by a deacon called Arius, which claimed that although Christ was “divine”, He was not God. The Council condemned his teachings. However, the ideas persisted and later gained the support of the emperor. A fierce persecution ensued, the pope was imprisoned and most bishops were exiled from their dioceses and were “replaced” by Arian impostors. Saint Athanasius (296?-373), the patriarch of Alexandria and one of the Church Fathers, was the most heroic voice against Arianism. Eventually, Arianism died out.
To preclude misunderstandings when talking about ecumenism, yes, of course there are Orthodox and Protestants in good conscience, who don’t know better that the Catholic Church is the true Church of Christ, and who do belong to the Church by desire, even implicit desire. Prevost does not talk about individual people but Orthodox and Protestants as such, as a religion.
“In the unity of faith, proclaimed since the beginning of the Church, Christians have been called to walk in harmony, guarding and transmitting the gift they have received with love and joy. This is expressed in the words of the Creed, “I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God… for our salvation he came down from heaven,” that were formulated 1700 years ago by the Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical gathering in the history of Christianity.”
There is some ambiguity here. There are two types of councils in the Church: “ecumenical councils” and “particular councils”. The word “ecumenical” in “ecumenical Council” means that “are convoked from the whole world (oikoumene) under the presidency of the pope or his legates, and the decrees of which, having received papal confirmation, bind all Christians.” (source) All bishops who participated in the Council of Nicea were Catholics.
Paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 of the document are fairly historically accurate and describe the history of Arianism and the reaction of the Church.
If Arianism still existed today, Prevost would probably initiate a “dialogue” with our “Arian brothers and sisters” arguing that it is not so important whether Jesus is God, and emphasizing that we all agree that he was divine.
“The particular merit of the three Cappadocians was bringing to completion the formulation of the Nicene Creed by showing that, in God, Unity and Trinity are in no way contradictory. This development led to the formulation of the article of faith concerning the Holy Spirit at the First Council of Constantinople in 381. […] At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the Council of Constantinople was recognized as ecumenical, and the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed was declared to be universally binding. It therefore constituted a bond of unity between the East and the West. In the 16th century, it was also upheld by the ecclesial communities that arose from the Reformation. The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed is thus the common profession of all Christian traditions.”
Prevost leaves out an important detail. Centuries later, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed gained an additional word: “filioque” (“and the Son”). The original Creed declared that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father, and “it was directed against the followers of Macedonius who denied the Procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father.” (link) There was no problem with this at first, but later, when the Eastern churches separated from the Catholic Church in 1054, they started to deny that the Holy Spirit proceeded from both the Father and the Son. For those who are interested in Biblical proofs for this doctrine, see here. So, the Orthodox and the Catholic versions of the Creed are not the same, which means it is not true that the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed is the same for all Christians.
After a few observations about the contents of the Creed and how “[t]he profession of faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord and God is the center of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed”, the text soon returns to topic of ecumenism.
“Finally, the Council of Nicaea is relevant today because of its great ecumenical value. Indeed, the achievement of unity among all Christians was one of the main objectives of the last Council, the Second Vatican Council. Exactly thirty years ago, Saint John Paul II further promoted this conciliar message in his Encyclical Ut Unum Sint (25 May 1995).”
As Pope Pius XI pointed out in his encyclical Mortalium animos, about which I have recently written an article: “[T]he union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it, for in the past they have unhappily left it. To the one true Church of Christ, we say, which is visible to all, and which is to remain, according to the will of its Author, exactly the same as He instituted it.”
“Thanks to God, the ecumenical movement has achieved much in the last sixty years.”
Prevost does acknowledge here that “the ecumenical movement” is only 60 years old, while the Catholic Church is 2000 years old.
Next, Prevost goes discusses how Christians can achieve “full communion”. Going into detail on this issue would be outside the scope of this article. Suffice it to say, there is no such thing as “full communion” or “partial communion”. Someone is either in communion with the Church or not. This was the basic Catholic understanding before the 1960s.
Here is one example from an 1855 catechism: “To believe the Holy Catholic Church, is not only to believe there was such a Church in times past, or will be in time to come, but that there is such a Church now, and always existing, which we are bound to believe, hear and obey, in all things belonging to faith: those who submit not to her doctrine and authority, are all out of her communion; as Pagans, Infidels, Turks, Jews, Heretics, and Schismatics.”
“We must therefore leave behind theological controversies that have lost their raison d’être in order to develop a common understanding and even more, a common prayer to the Holy Spirit, so that he may gather us all together in one faith and one love.”
Christ said that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and He is the same always. What are those truths, those doctrines, which no longer matter?
“This does not imply an ecumenism that attempts to return to the state prior to the divisions, nor is it a mutual recognition of the current status quo of the diversity of Churches and ecclesial communities. Rather, it is an ecumenism that looks to the future, that seeks reconciliation through dialogue as we share our gifts and spiritual heritage.”
Returning to the True Church is exactly the solution which all true popes have taught, see the quote above from Pius XI.
Then he writes:
“The Nicene Creed can be the basis and reference point for this journey. It offers us a model of true unity in legitimate diversity. Unity in the Trinity, Trinity in Unity, because unity without multiplicity is tyranny, multiplicity without unity is fragmentation. The Trinitarian dynamic is not a dualistic and exclusive ‘either/or,’ but rather a decisive bond, ‘both/and.’”
So both Catholic doctrine and its opposite are true at the same time?
“Such is the nature of Catholicism that it does not admit of more or less, but must be held as a whole or as a whole rejected: ‘This is the Catholic faith, which unless a man believe faithfully and firmly; he cannot be saved’ (Athanas. Creed). There is no need of adding any qualifying terms to the profession of Catholicism: it is quite enough for each one to proclaim ‘Christian is my name and Catholic my surname,’ only let him endeavour to be in reality what he calls himself.” (Pope Benedict XV, Encyclical Ad beatissimi)
Note: In the document, text in italics lacks spaces behind it and in front of it. I have corrected it in this article.
Lake İznik near Nicea. Image by Arif miletli, CC-BY-SA 4.0, here.
