Llamemos a las cosas por su nombre
Mi interlocutor insistía en poner a los hermanos protestantes en el camino de la salvación exceptuándolos de aquellas definiciones magisteriales. Me di cuenta entonces de la importancia que tiene llamar a las cosas por su nombre. Puesto que, de seguir llamando Herejía al protestantismo y hereje a quien adhiera a su doctrina, como siempre designó la Iglesia, ninguna discusión habría tenido lugar y mi amigo no se hubiera confundido, pues las formulas dogmáticas los incluyen claramente.
La Santa Iglesia romana firmemente cree, profesa y predica que nadie que no esté dentro de la Iglesia Católica, no sólo paganos, sino también judíos o herejes y cismáticos, puede hacerse partícipe de la vida eterna, sino que irá al fuego eterno que está aparejado para el diablo y, sus ángeles [Mt. 25, 41], a no ser que antes de su muerte se uniere con ella; y que es de tanto precio la unidad en el cuerpo de la Iglesia, que sólo a quienes en él permanecen les aprovechan para su salvación los sacramentos y producen premios eternos los ayunos, limosnas y demás oficios de piedad y ejercicios de la milicia cristiana. Y que nadie, por más limosnas que hiciere, aun cuando derramare su sangre por el nombre de Cristo, puede salvarse, si no permaneciere en el seno y unidad de la Iglesia Católica.
Por eso decía San Ignacio de Loyola en carta a San Pedro Canicio (13/08/1554):
"Quien llamara evangélicos a los herejes, convendría que pagase alguna multa, porque no se goce el Demonio de que los enemigos del Evangelio y cruz de Cristo tomen un nombre contrario a sus obras; y a los herejes se los a de llamar por su nombre, para que dé horror hasta nombrar a los que son tales, y cubren el veneno mortal con el velo de un nombre de salud".
Y esto decimos, no con la intención de lastimar a nadie sino porque sólo la Verdad nos hará libres y más vale un remedio aplicado a tiempo que cien lamentaciones cuando ya no hay cura. El respeto humano mal entendido, no es caridad. Y de las siete obras de misericordia, dice Santo Tomás que la más difícil es la corrección fraterna. Nadie se sienta ofendido pues con la Verdad Católica, antes bien, reflexione y vuelva a la recta doctrina, porque el tiempo es breve.
La Herejía consiste en negar uno o más principios de un sistema de creencias, dejando intocados los demás que la componen. Es entonces una negación parcial, nunca total de la verdad, cuya gran peligrosidad radica justamente en este hecho, en la parte de verdad que se lleva cautiva.
Por ejemplo si a un gran profesor de física se le ocurriera enseñar desde su cátedra de la universidad que un cuerpo que se encuentra en reposo puede cambiar su condición espontáneamente y sin que una fuerza exterior actúe sobre él, se convertiría en un heresiarca newtoniano, porque ha impugnado la segunda Ley de la Mecánica Clásica o Mecánica Newtoniana. Y los alumnos que lo siguieran se convertirían en herejes. Claro es que, al mismo tiempo, serían el hazmerreír de la comunidad científica, porque cualquiera sabe empíricamente, es decir por la experiencia, que ningún cuerpo se moverá si algo no lo impulsa.
Y es que, tanto las leyes deducidas empíricamente como las conclusiones lógicas (v.g., un teorema), obligan a la razón que no tiene más remedio que aceptarlas. Si alguien demuestra el Binomio de Newton, no hay posibilidad de opugnarlo.
Pero cosa diferente es el trato de lo que trasciende el mundo material y de las ideas, como son las Verdades reveladas por Dios. Y no es que contraríen o fuercen a la razón, sino que la trascienden de tal modo que obligan a un acto de Fe que le sirve de base. Podrá demostrarse mil veces el misterio de la Santísima Trinidad, pero nadie se verá “obligado” a aceptarlo. Se requiere de un asentimiento, dado en el sacrosanto templo de nuestro libre albedrío, allí donde ni el demonio puede entrar. Es un acto de Fe que Dios permite con su Gracia. Por la Fe, se cree lo que Él revela, y luego la inteligencia se remonta hacia lo alto para buscar justificaciones racionales a eso que creemos por la autoridad de Quien lo ha revelado. Así los Santos Padres expurgaron la filosofía griega creando ese monumento inigualado que es la filosofía y teología católicas, para explicar por la razón lo que creían por la Fe. Impulsada por el viento de la Fe, la Razón se remonta hacia las cúspides más altas, alcanza lo que parecía inaccesible y domeña a la soberbia que es el peligro máximo de la inteligencia humana, ensoberbecerse. Así también cuando pierde el motor y guía de la Fe, enloquece y cae hasta los abismos más profundos, en los que no pocas veces aguarda, la apostasía, la desesperación y la muerte.
Por eso, ya desde los inicios de la Iglesia, comenzaron algunos a negar esta o estotra verdad de fe; fueron los primeros herejes. Y, como el misterio de iniquidad sigue actuando en el mundo, tal como nos anticiparon San Pablo y San Juan, estas herejías recorren a lo largo la historia de la Iglesia.
Al negar Lutero la Unidad, separando a los fieles del Pastor, la doctrina protestante terminó invadida por una cantidad interminable de errores, haciéndose incontables las Comuniones y Sectas Protestantes. Es consecuencia lógica; negado el Pastor, las ovejas sueltas a la libre interpretación bíblica son pasto de los lobos rapaces. Y es que no en vano dijera Jesucristo Nuestro Señor a San Pedro: “Apacienta mis Ovejas” y “Confirmas a tus hermanos (en la Fe)”. Es Pedro quien garantiza la infalibilidad de la doctrina y sin él, el enemigo tiene su fiesta.
Hállanse, pues, en un peligroso error quienes piensan que pueden abrazar a Cristo, Cabeza de la Iglesia, sin adherirse fielmente a su Vicario en la tierra. Porque, al quitar esta Cabeza visible, y romper los vínculos sensibles de la unidad, oscurecen y deforman el Cuerpo místico del Redentor, de tal manera, que los que andan en busca del puerto de salvación no pueden verlo ni encontrarlo (17).
While debating with a friend about the dogma "Outside the Church there is no salvation nor forgiveness of sins," as defined in the Bull Unam Sanctam of Boniface VIII (November 18, 1302), we began to consider the situation of contemporary Protestants in relation to this dogma and other definitions of the Magisterium, such as those of the Council of Florence or the Encyclical Mirari Vos of Gregory XVI (August 15, 1832).
My interlocutor insisted on placing our Protestant brethren on the path to salvation by excluding them from those magisterial definitions. I then realized the importance of calling things by their proper names. Because if we had continued to call Protestantism heresy and anyone who adheres to its doctrine a heretic, as the Church has always done, no discussion would have taken place, and my friend would not have been confused, since the dogmatic formulas clearly include them.
The dogmatic definition of the Council of Florence – Decree Cantate Domino of February 4, 1442 (D-714) – states:
The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes, and preaches that no one who is not within the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews, heretics, and schismatics, can share in eternal life, but will go into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels [Mt. 25:41], unless before death he is united with her; and that unity in the body of the Church is so precious that only those who remain in it benefit from the sacraments for their salvation, and only those who fast, give alms, and perform other acts of piety and Christian service yield eternal rewards. And that no one, no matter how much alms he gives, even if he sheds his blood for the name of Christ, can be saved unless he remains in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church.
That is why St. Ignatius of Loyola said in a letter to St. Peter Canicius (August 13, 1554):
"Whoever calls heretics evangelicals should pay a fine, lest the Devil rejoice that the enemies of the Gospel and the cross of Christ take a name contrary to their works; and heretics must be called by their name, so that even naming those who are such, and who cover deadly poison with the veil of a name of health, inspires horror."
And we say this not with the intention of hurting anyone, but because only the Truth will set us free, and a remedy applied in time is worth more than a hundred lamentations when there is no cure. Misunderstood human respect is not charity. And of the seven works of mercy, St. Thomas Aquinas says that the most difficult is fraternal correction. Let no one take offense at the Catholic Truth; rather, let them reflect and return to correct doctrine, for time is short.
Heresy consists of denying one or more principles of a belief system, leaving the others that comprise it untouched. It is therefore a partial, never total, denial of the truth, whose great danger lies precisely in this fact, in the portion of truth that is taken captive.
For example, if a renowned physics professor were to teach from his university chair that a body at rest can spontaneously change its state without any external force acting upon it, he would become a Newtonian heretic, because he has challenged the Second Law of Classical Mechanics, or Newtonian Mechanics. And the students who followed him would become heretics. Of course, at the same time, they would be the laughingstock of the scientific community, because everyone knows empirically, that is, through experience, that no body will move unless something propels it.
Both empirically deduced laws and logical conclusions (e.g., a theorem) compel reason, which has no choice but to accept them. If someone proves Newton's Binomial Theorem, there is no possibility of rebutting it.
But dealing with that which transcends the material world and the realm of ideas, such as the Truths revealed by God, is a different matter. It's not that they contradict or force reason, but rather that they transcend it in such a way that they compel an act of Faith upon which they are based. The mystery of the Holy Trinity can be demonstrated a thousand times, but no one will be "forced" to accept it. It requires assent, given in the sacred temple of our free will, where not even the devil can enter. It is an act of Faith that God permits through His Grace. Through Faith, we believe what He reveals, and then our intellect ascends to seek rational justifications for what we believe by the authority of the One who has revealed it. Thus, the Holy Fathers purged Greek philosophy, creating that unparalleled monument that is Catholic philosophy and theology, to explain through reason what they believed through Faith. Propelled by the wind of Faith, Reason soars to the highest peaks, reaches what seemed inaccessible, and tames pride, which is the greatest danger of human intelligence: to become arrogant. Likewise, when it loses the driving force and guide of Faith, it goes mad and falls to the deepest abysses, where apostasy, despair, and death often await.
For this reason, from the very beginning of the Church, some began to deny this or that truth of faith; they were the first heretics. And, as the mystery of iniquity continues to operate in the world, just as Saint Paul and Saint John foretold, these heresies run throughout the history of the Church.
The heresy of Luther and his followers consisted of denying the Unity of the Church. It is a dogma of Faith that she is One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. And that Peter and his successor, the Pope, as Vicar of Jesus Christ, are her Universal Pastor.
By denying Unity, separating the faithful from the Shepherd, Luther's doctrine became riddled with an endless number of errors, resulting in countless Protestant Communions and Sects. This is a logical consequence: with the Shepherd denied, the sheep left to their own devices, free to interpret the Bible, become prey for ravenous wolves. For it was not in vain that Jesus Christ Our Lord said to Saint Peter: “Feed my sheep” and “Strengthen your brothers (in the Faith).” It is Peter who guarantees the infallibility of doctrine, and without him, the enemy has a field day.
As Pope Pius XII says in Mystici Corporis (June 29, 1943):
Those who think they can embrace Christ, the Head of the Church, without faithfully adhering to his Vicar on earth are in a dangerous error. For by removing this visible Head and breaking the tangible bonds of unity, they obscure and distort the Mystical Body of the Redeemer, so that those who seek the harbor of salvation cannot see it or find it (17).
The decay of Protestant theology is such that it has even gone so far as to approve the ordination of homosexuals to the episcopate! Further proof that the spirit of the world runs rampant when Peter is absent.
The terminology "separated brethren" is semantically meaningless because, by not indicating the reason for the separation, all people, as sharers in human dignity, can be included in that definition. It is theologically indefensible and in light of dogmatic definitions; and it is pastorally counterproductive, because it encourages the "brother" to remain as he is while simultaneously minimizing the danger of heresy in the eyes of Catholics.
Therefore, now free from all misguided ecumenism, without false human respect but with humility and truth, knowing that heresy, which must be hated, is one thing, and the confused brother, whom we must love, is another, and precisely as a pledge of our love, let us call things by their name and reiterate to all Christians who still remain, by their own free choice, outside the Catholic Church the following invitation that Pope Pius XI addressed to them in Mortalius Animos (January 6, 1928):
Return, then, to the Apostolic See, established in this city of Rome, which the Princes of the Apostles, Saint Peter and Saint Paul, consecrated with their blood, to the root and mother See of the Catholic Church; Let the dissenting children return, not with the desire and hope that the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth, will abdicate the integrity of its faith and condone their errors, but to submit to its teaching and governance (18).
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario