Catholic World News News Feature

Vatican issues caution on liberation theologian March 14, 2007

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) has released the text of a Notification warning of doctrinal errors in the work of Father Jon Sobrino, SJ, a noted champion of liberation theology.

The CDF document, released by the Vatican press office on March 14 after several stories had been circulated predicting its appearance, cites doctrinal problems with two of Sobrino’s books, published in English as Jesus the Liberator and Christ the Liberator.

However, contrary to previous reports, the Vatican does not invoke any disciplinary measures against the Jesuit scholar; he is not barred from publishing other theological works or from teaching at Catholic universities.

“Although the preoccupation of the author for the plight of the poor is admirable,” the Notification states, “the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has the obligation to indicate that the aforementioned works of Father Sobrino contain notable discrepancies with the faith of the Church.”

The CDF document cites problems of six different sorts:

1) the methodological presuppositions on which the author bases his theological reflection, 2) the Divinity of Jesus Christ, 3) the Incarnation of the Son of God, 4) the relationship between Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God, 5) the Self-consciousness of Jesus, and 6) the salvific value of his Death.

Before giving a detailed explanation of the problems with Father Sobrino’s work, the CDF explains the process through which the work was examined. The study began in October 2001, the Vatican’s doctrinal agency reports. Following the process established for an “urgent examination,” the CDF compiled “a list of erroneous or dangerous propositions found in the abovementioned books,” which was forwarded to Sobrino. His response, received at the Vatican in March 2005, was judged inadequate. Finally the Notification was prepared and approved by Pope Benedict XVI in October 2006-- five years after the dialogue with the Spanish-born Jesuit had begun. The Notification was signed last November 26 by Cardinal William Levada and Archbishop Angelo Amato, the prefect and secretary, respectively, of the CDF.

Father Sobrino-- who gained worldwide prominence in the 1970s and 1980s as a leading voice of liberation theology, teaching at the University of Central America in El Salvador-- has not made any public comment on the Vatican document. According to the National Catholic Reporter, he did write to Father Peter Hans Kolvenbach, the Jesuit father general, in December 2006, complaining that the Vatican had misrepresented his thought.

In its detailed exploration of the difficulties found in Sobrino’s work, the CDF points to formulations that appear to contradict defined Catholic doctrine. For example, the Notification observes, the liberation theologian gives primary importance to solidarity with the poor, rather than the sacramental life of the Church. Thus the Notification observes, that the “’church of the poor’ assumes the fundamental position which properly belongs to the faith of the Church.”

Other difficulties arise in Sobrino’s theology because he suggests that early Church councils moved away from the original content of the faith, the CDF reports: “Father Sobrino considers the dogmatic development of the first centuries of the Church including the great Councils to be ambiguous and even negative.”

Although he does not deny the normative character of the dogmatic formulations, neither does he recognize in them any value except in the cultural milieu in which these formulations were developed.

The central difficulty in Sobrino’s work, the CDF finds, is a failure to recognize the central role of Jesus and the Church in the economy of salvation.