Ecumenical vademecum for Bishops. Theological commentary

Sławomir Pawłowski

Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II, Wydział Teologii
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4918-0658

Abstract

The 4 December 2020, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity published a document of about 50 pages, entitled The Bishop and Christian unity: an ecumenical vademecum. It is to be a guide “on the ecumenical path” of the bishop and his diocese. The Vademecum is based on the existing documents of the Catholic Church on ecumenism, but selects the most practical content from them, taking into account the latest achievements of the ecumenical movement. It describes what should be the ecumenical attitude of the faithful of the Catholic Church, who should be characterized by truth, love, humility, patience, and persistence. The Vademecum shows that a bishop should be a man of unity, dialogue, and a culture of encounter. His ministry of unity is deeply linked to synodality since both synodality and ecumenism are processes of the common path. The document describes the structures of the Church and the modes of operation that serve ecumenism: spiritual ecumenism, the dialogue of love, the dialogue of truth, and dialogue of life. The last includes pastoral ecumenism, practical ecumenism, and cultural ecumenism. The Vademecum resembles previous rules of communicatio in sacris, without changing them, although it adopts the bishop's perspective and therefore understands participation in sacramental life as a part of the pastoral ecumenism rather than an aspect of spiritual ecumenism. The practical recommendations that translate the previously laid out content into the language of actions in a simple and concrete way are very valuable. The document is accompanied by a very useful appendix that contains a synthetic description of the partners of the Catholic Church in ecumenical international dialogue. The Vademecum is a text so practical that not only bishops will use it; it can help all those involved in ecumenism.

Keywords:

bishop, Christian unity, ecumenism, Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Vademecum