Papal Regimes

The first mistake would be to think the Vatican's recent declaration Dominus Iesus is

primarily a theological document. It is not -- even though it advertises itself as being that, with a

specific focus on (according to its subtitle) "The Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ

and the Church."

No, it is first of all a political text. It fits the time-tested genre of "official" declarations that

Vatican administrators typically fire off during the last days of one papal regime in an effort to

influence the next. It's what Romans call a documento di tramonto or "sunset document," a frantic

effort by the Curia (in this case, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger) to lay down political markers before

the next conclave. The 10,000-word text, which Ratzinger himself authored, comes with the

blessings of a dying pontiff who no doubt shares its sentiments but whose ability to seriously read

such a document during the few waking hours he manages per day is, to say the least, severely

limited.

According to the street-maxim in Rome, "The pope is never sick -- until he's dead," but

this document is a clear sign that the doctor is on the way. If I learned anything from living in

Rome for nine years (which included parts of the last three papal regimes and the fulfillment of the

Third Secret of Fatima on May 13, 1981), it is that the street value of documents like Dominus

Iesus is infinitely greater than their alleged theological import. A lot of money is riding on exactly

when Pope John Paul II will be ushered into eternal glory and who will be his successor; and a

sunset document like this can shift the handicap overnight. These days the real Vaticanologists are

not pouring over details in Dominus Iesus but placing bets in coffee bars in Trastevere, all the

while keeping a sharp eye on the steady stream of Mercedes-Benz limosines, their windows

darkened, that are whisking nervous cardinals in and out of the Vatican. I would have given

anything to be at my favorite bar in Piazza San Callisto on August 6, the day the text was

published, to watch the odds in the pope-pool go crazy.

The second mistake would be to think this document deserves much concerted attention,

least of all a frontal attack. As befits a sunset document, its theological shelf-life will be very short;

and given the shoddiness of its theological reasoning, it has already begun imploding under the

weight of its own contradictions. No need, then, to get one's shorts in a twist refuting Dominus

Iesus point by point. In the parlance of political campaigns, never get in the way of your opponent

when he's in the process of destroying himself.

True, it is embarrassing for those of us who cherish the Catholic tradition to see this sloppy

document run roughshod, and with such theological vulgarity, over intricate and complex topics

that theologians like Karl Rahner long ago treated with supreme finesse and delicacy. But then

again, Joseph Ratzinger is no Karl Rahner. The intellectual distance that separates this third-rate

document from the brilliance of Rahner and other theologians of the Second Vatican