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Mea culpa, tua culpa: Vatican hopes others inspired by apologies

March 12, 2000
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When it comes to saying, ``We're sorry,'' Pope John Paul II has always been ahead of the curve. Well before the church prepared its ``Forgiveness Day'' jubilee liturgy in March, the pope had publicly apologized for the shortcomings of Christians through the ages, on topics ranging from slavery to the Inquisition. On more than 100 separate occasions during his 21-year pontificate, the pope has asked forgiveness from groups, including indigenous peoples, other Christian churches and women. These expressions of regret have always been unconditional. At the same time, some church officials wouldn't mind hearing some apologies in return. ``The church's `mea culpa' is absolute. It isn't asking for an exchange. But it seems to me that it also serves as a challenge to others ... to make a similar examination of conscience,'' said Franco Cardini, an Italian church historian. Even the pope has wondered why the church's soul-searching has not prompted others to do the same. ``What is interesting is that it is always the Catholic Church and the pope who ask forgiveness. Meanwhile, others remain silent. But maybe that is the way it should be,'' he said in late 1997. The pope was set to formally proclaim the church's responsibility for past wrongs in a Mass March 12, following publication of a 19,000-word theological reflection on the same topic, ``Memory and Reconciliation.'' The media has focused on whether the pope was being specific enough in his apology. But a look at what the pope has already said reveals plenty of specifics: -- On the Inquisition, the pope in 1982 referred to its ``errors of excess,'' and on several occasions since then he has condemned the Inquisition's use of ``intolerance and even violence in the service of truth.'' -- On the Holocaust, in 1997 the pope expressed regret that Christians' consciences were lulled under Nazism and that Christians showed inadequate ``spiritual resistance'' to Nazi persecution of the Jews. In 1998 a Vatican document on the Shoah, the Hebrew word for the Holocaust, expressed repentance for the same moral shortcomings. -- On the Crusades, the pope in 1995 characterized these armed Christian expeditions as mistakes. He praised the zeal of medieval Crusaders, but said today we should ``give thanks to God'' that dialogue, not recourse to weapons, was recognized as the right way. -- On native peoples, the pope in 1985 asked forgiveness from Africans for the way they were treated in recent centuries. In North America in 1984 he apologized for the ``blunders'' of missionaries and in 1987 acknowledged that Christians were among those who carried out the cultural oppression of native peoples and the destruction of their way of life. -- On ecumenism, the pope has several times called for mutual forgiveness among separated Christian churches. In 1995, he bluntly asked ``forgiveness, on behalf of all Catholics, for the wrongs caused to non-Catholics in the course of history.'' -- On women, in a 1995 letter that examined in brief the historical discrimination against women, the pope said that if ``not just a few'' members of the church were to blame, ``for this I am truly sorry.'' The pope has made similar pronouncements on the church's past actions regarding slavery and racism, acquiescence to political dictatorship, and scientific theories like those of Galileo, who was condemned for saying Earth revolved around the sun. With all this and more on the record from Pope John Paul, some church leaders are looking for company -- in a sense, hoping that the request for forgiveness becomes ``contagious,'' in the words of Father Bruno Forte, a theologian who helped guide the preparation of the document on ``Memory and Reconciliation.'' The document briefly touched a nerve when it observed that the recognition of faults has been ``for the most part one-sided'' so far. Historian Cardini said it would be refreshing, for example, to hear expressions of regret from the Queen of England for past treatment of Catholics in her country, not to mention the persecutions against church leaders carried out in various revolutions -- in France, Spain and Mexico, for example. ``An examination of conscience -- or to use a less `Catholic' term, a historical reflection -- could be carried out by Protestant churches on their own conduct toward Catholics, or by (Russian) Orthodox leaders who have in the past supported repressive actions of the Tsarist government,'' Cardini said. ``Perhaps Muslims should also make this kind of reflection for the various jihads (holy wars) proclaimed in the past,'' he said. As for the present, China could start working on its apology now for the current treatment of the Catholic Church, he added. Various local Catholic episcopates have followed the pope's lead on ``mea culpas'' and have stated apologies even more forcefully. A few years ago, French bishops apologized for the acquiescence by some church leaders to Nazi policies. More recently, Australia's bishops issued an apology to aborigines and victims of sex abuse by priests. Outside the Catholic Church, a rather lone voice of apology was raised in February by Romanian Orthodox Patriarch Teoctist, who asked forgiveness for the concessions the church made under communism in order to survive. Patriarch Teoctist didn't try to shun responsibility; he said his own personal decisions had ``made a great number of the faithful suffer.'' The patriarch's gesture did not go unnoticed at the Vatican, which would love to hear more of the same from other quarters.