Timeline of principal doctrinal decisions, documents, 1981-2005 of
Cardinal Ratzinger Catholic News Service ^ | May 2, 2005

Posted on 05/03/2005 6:44:38 AM PDT by NYer

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Here is a list of the principal public documents and
decisions issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from
1981 to 2005 when Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was prefect of the office. He
was elected Pope Benedict XVI April 19.

-- March 12, 1983: Notification reaffirming the excommunication of
traditionalist Archbishop Pierre Martin Ngo Dinh Thuc, formerly of Hue,
Vietnam, and his accomplices for the illicit ordination of priests and
bishops.

-- Oct. 4, 1983: Notification to Archbishop Raymond G. Hunthausen of
Seattle that an apostolic visitation of his archdiocese would be
conducted, focused primarily on liturgy, the education of seminarians,
clergy formation, the marriage tribunal and ministry to homosexuals. (The
process ended with the appointment in 1985 of an auxiliary bishop who was
given primary responsibility over many areas of archdiocesan governance.)

-- Nov. 26, 1983: "Declaration on Masonic Associations," saying Masonic
principles and rituals "embody a naturalistic" religion incompatible with
Christianity. Those who knowingly embrace the principles or attend the
rituals are involved in serious sin and may not receive Communion.

-- Aug. 6, 1984: "Instruction on Certain Aspects of the 'Theology of
Liberation,'" although applauding efforts to promote social justice,
criticized theologians who borrow "uncritically" from Marxist ideology,
reducing salvation to the liberation of the poor from worldly oppressors.

-- March 11, 1985: Notification on the book "Church: Charism and Power" by
Brazilian Franciscan Father Leonardo Boff, who argued that the church's
current hierarchical structure was not that intended by Christ and that
authority can spring from the community of the faithful. The notification
said the book was "dangerous" and asked Father Boff to refrain from
publishing or speaking publicly for one year.

-- March 22, 1986: "Instruction on Christian Freedom and Liberation," a
second document on liberation theology providing guidelines for the
theology's development, insisting it have as its goal the liberation of
people from sin, not simply from sinful social structures.

-- July 10, 1986: Pope John Paul II appointed Cardinal Ratzinger head of a
12-member commission charged with drafting the "Catechism of the Catholic
Church." The text was released in French in 1992 and in English in 1994.

-- July 25, 1986: Letter regarding the suspension of U.S. Father Charles
E. Curran from teaching Catholic theology because of his dissenting views
on several issues in sexual ethics. Father Curran was a professor of
theology at The Catholic University of America, Washington.

-- Sept. 15, 1986: Notification on the book "The Church With a Human Face:
A New and Expanded Theology of Ministry" by Dominican Father Edward
Schillebeeckx, saying the book was "in disagreement with the teaching of
the church," particularly regarding ordination and the possibility of lay
people presiding at the Eucharist. However, the doctrinal congregation did
not apply any penalties to the Belgian-born priest, who already had
retired from teaching.

-- Oct. 1, 1986: "Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the
Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons." The letter called for "special
concern and pastoral attention" to homosexuals, but also for clarity that
homosexual activity is immoral.

-- Feb. 22, 1987: "Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and
on the Dignity of Procreation," clarifying the church's position on
assisted fertilization techniques and other biomedical issues, reaffirming
teaching that an embryo is human from the moment of conception and that
conception is moral only in the context of sexual intercourse within
marriage.

-- June 29, 1988: Telegram warning traditionalist French Archbishop Marcel
Lefebvre he would be in schism if he ordained bishops without papal
consent. The archbishop went ahead with the ordinations and died in
schism.

-- Feb. 16, 1989: Note regarding the moral rule of "Humanae Vitae" and
pastoral duty, saying couples who find it difficult to follow church
teaching about birth control "deserve great respect and love," but the
church is firm in teaching that contraception is an "intrinsically
disordered act" that is prohibited without exception.

-- Oct. 15, 1989: "Letter on Certain Aspects of Christian Meditation,"
cautioning Catholics about using Buddhist, Hindu and other meditation
techniques that place the focus of prayer on the self rather than on God.

-- May 24, 1990: "Instruction on the Ecclesial Vocation of the
Theologian," underlining the important role theologians have in
clarifying, explaining and exploring church teaching, but also calling on
theologians who disagree with church teaching not to use the mass media to
publicize their views or try to pressure for change in the church.

-- Jan. 31, 1992: Note on the book "The Sexual Creators, an Ethical
Proposal for Concerned Christians" by Canadian Oblate Father Andre
Guindon. The Vatican said the book presented questionable views on
premarital sex, homosexual relationships and contraception, particularly
because Father Guindon seemed to reduce moral goodness to subjective human
intentions.

-- March 30, 1992: "Instruction on Some Aspects of the Use of the
Instruments of Social Communication in Promoting the Doctrine of the
Faith," reaffirming church law requiring prepublication theological review
of manuscripts dealing with church teaching.

-- May 28, 1992: "Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on Some
Aspects of the Church Understood as Communion," emphasizing the essential
bond between the local church and universal church, particularly through
recognition of the authority of the pope.

-- July 23, 1992: "Some Considerations Concerning the Response to
Legislative Proposals on Nondiscrimination of Homosexual Persons," saying,
"It is not unjust discrimination to take sexual orientation into account"
when making laws concerning "adoption or foster care, in employment of
teachers or athletic coaches and in military recruitment."

-- Sept. 14, 1994: "Letter to Bishops Regarding the Reception of Holy
Communion by Divorced and Remarried Members of the Faithful," saying the
church cannot ignore Jesus' clear teaching on the indissolubility of
marriage and reaffirming that divorced and civilly remarried Catholics may
not receive Communion.

-- Oct. 28, 1995: Response to questions about the doctrine contained in
the apostolic letter, "Ordinatio Sacerdotalis," saying the church's
teaching that women cannot be ordained priests belongs "to the deposit of
faith" and has been taught "infallibly."

-- Jan. 2, 1997: Notification on the book "Mary and Human Liberation" by
Sri Lankan Oblate Father Tissa Balasuriya, saying the book contained
heretical statements regarding Mary, original sin, Christ's redemptive
role and papal infallibility. The Oblate was excommunicated, but
reconciled with the church a year later.

-- May 30, 1997: Revised "Regulations for Doctrinal Examination" of
theologians and their work, encouraging a more direct role for the
theologian's bishop or religious superior, allowing the possibility of
naming an advocate and an adviser for the theologian, and permitting
face-to-face meetings between the theologian and congregation members.

-- Aug. 15, 1997: Publication of the final Latin "typical edition" of the
"Catechism of the Catholic Church," containing some corrections and
additions to the 1992 text, including a stronger condemnation of the death
penalty and an acknowledgment that science has not determined the cause of
homosexuality.

-- June 24, 1998: Posthumous notification concerning the writings of
Indian Jesuit Father Anthony De Mello, saying some of the priest's views
"are incompatible with the Catholic faith and can cause grave harm." It
particularly cited those views presenting God as an impersonal cosmic
reality, organized religion as an obstacle to self-awareness and Jesus as
one master among many.

-- Oct. 31, 1998: "Considerations on 'The Primacy of the Successor of
Peter in the Mystery of the Church,'" saying that, although Pope John Paul
called for an ecumenical discussion of how primacy could be exercised in a
united church, "the full communion desired by Christ among those who
confess to be his disciples requires the common recognition of a universal
ecclesial ministry," and the Catholic faith holds that that ministry
belongs to the pope.

-- May 31, 1999: Notification regarding School Sister of Notre Dame
Jeannine Gramick and Salvatorian Father Robert Nugent, barring the U.S.
team from further pastoral ministry to homosexuals, saying they advanced
"doctrinally unacceptable" positions "regarding the intrinsic evil of
homosexual acts and the objective disorder of the homosexual inclination."

-- June 26, 2000: Publication of a 43-page booklet containing the complete
"Message of Fatima," including the so-called "third secret" given to three
Portuguese children in 1917. In his commentary, Cardinal Ratzinger said
the third part of the message is a symbolic prophecy of the church's
20th-century struggles with evil political systems and of the church's
ultimate triumph.

-- Aug. 6, 2000: "Dominus Iesus," a declaration on the "exclusive,
universal and absolute" value of Jesus Christ and his church for
salvation.

-- Sept. 14, 2000: "Instruction on Prayers for Healing," noting the
importance of believing that God wants to free people from suffering, but
encouraging local bishops to be vigilant that the services do not become
occasions for hysteria or focus more on the so-called gift of healing
possessed by certain individuals than on God.

-- Jan. 24, 2001: Notification on the book "Toward a Christian Theology of
Religious Pluralism" by Belgian Jesuit Father Jacques Dupuis, warning that
although Father Dupuis' intentions were good his 1997 book contained
ambiguous statements and insufficient explanations that could lead readers
to "erroneous or harmful conclusions" about Christ's role as the unique
and universal savior.

-- Feb. 22, 2001: Notification regarding certain writings of Redemptorist
Father Marciano Vidal, a Spanish moral theologian. At the congregation's
request, the priest agreed to revise several of his books to emphasize the
church's official position on contraception, homosexuality, masturbation,
abortion and other issues.

-- May 18, 2001: Letter to all bishops "regarding the more serious
offenses, 'graviora delicta' reserved to the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith." The letter said Pope John Paul had given the congregation
juridical control over cases of sexual abuse of minors by priests,
classifying it as one of several "graver offenses" against church law. The
other offenses include acts committed by priests against the sanctity of
the Eucharist and against the sacrament of penance.

-- July 1, 2001: Note on the doctrinal decrees concerning the thought and
work of Father Antonio Rosmini, saying positions attributed to the Italian
philosopher and condemned by the Vatican in 1887 did not accurately
reflect Father Rosmini's thinking. The 2001 decision removed a major
stumbling block to the 19th-century priest's beatification.

-- Aug. 5, 2002: Publication of the declaration of the excommunication of
seven Catholic women from various countries who had attempted to be
ordained Catholic priests. The congregation had sent them a warning July
10 asking them to indicate their "repentance for the most serious offense
they had committed." The Vatican said the ordaining bishop, the leader of
a breakaway church, had already been excommunicated.

-- Jan. 16, 2003: Doctrinal note on the participation of Catholics in
political life saying that while Catholics are free to choose among
political parties and strategies for promoting the common good, they
cannot claim that freedom allows them to support abortion, euthanasia or
other attacks on human life.

-- Feb. 7-14, 2003: Revised norms issued for dealing with "serious
offenses" against the sacraments; the new norms included an expedited
process for laicizing priests guilty of sexually abusing minors.

-- July 31, 2003: "Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal
Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons," reaffirming church
teaching requiring compassion for homosexuals, but saying legal
recognition of gay unions is contrary to human nature and ultimately
harmful to society.

-- July 31, 2004: "Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the
Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World," saying the
subjugation of women is the result of original sin and not of God's
original design for creation. Rather than ignore the God-given differences
between men and women, the church calls on them to collaborate for the
good of the family, society and the church.

-- Dec. 13, 2004: Notification regarding the book "Jesus Symbol of God" by
U.S. Jesuit Father Roger Haight, which said the book contained "serious
doctrinal errors against the Catholic and divine faith of the church,"
particularly regarding the divinity of Jesus and the universality of
salvation in him. The Jesuit was forbidden to teach as a Catholic
theologian.

-- Feb. 11, 2005: Statement and commentary reaffirming church teaching
that only priests can administer the anointing of the sick and saying the
doctrine must be "definitively" accepted by Catholics.