DECLARATION
ON
THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS
NOSTRA AETATE
PROCLAIMED BY HIS HOLINESS
POPE PAUL VI
ON OCTOBER 28, 1965
THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS
NOSTRA AETATE
PROCLAIMED BY HIS HOLINESS
POPE PAUL VI
ON OCTOBER 28, 1965
1. In our time, when day by day
mankind is being drawn closer together, and the ties between different peoples
are becoming stronger, the Church examines more closely he relationship to non-
Christian religions. In her task of promoting unity and love among men, indeed
among nations, she considers above all in this declaration what men have in
common and what draws them to fellowship.
One is the community of all peoples,
one their origin, for God made the whole human race to live over the face of
the earth.(1) One also is their final goal, God. His providence, His
manifestations of goodness, His saving design extend to all men,(2) until that
time when the elect will be united in the Holy City, the city ablaze with the
glory of God, where the nations will walk in His light.(3)
Men expect from the various
religions answers to the unsolved riddles of the human condition, which today,
even as in former times, deeply stir the hearts of men: What is man? What is
the meaning, the aim of our life? What is moral good, what sin? Whence
suffering and what purpose does it serve? Which is the road to true happiness?
What are death, judgment and retribution after death? What, finally, is that
ultimate inexpressible mystery which encompasses our existence: whence do we
come, and where are we going?
2. From ancient times down to the
present, there is found among various peoples a certain perception of that
hidden power which hovers over the course of things and over the events of
human history; at times some indeed have come to the recognition of a Supreme
Being, or even of a Father. This perception and recognition penetrates their
lives with a profound religious sense.
Religions, however, that are bound
up with an advanced culture have struggled to answer the same questions by
means of more refined concepts and a more developed language. Thus in Hinduism,
men contemplate the divine mystery and express it through an inexhaustible
abundance of myths and through searching philosophical inquiry. They seek
freedom from the anguish of our human condition either through ascetical
practices or profound meditation or a flight to God with love and trust. Again,
Buddhism, in its various forms, realizes the radical insufficiency of this
changeable world; it teaches a way by which men, in a devout and confident
spirit, may be able either to acquire the state of perfect liberation, or
attain, by their own efforts or through higher help, supreme illumination.
Likewise, other religions found everywhere try to counter the restlessness of
the human heart, each in its own manner, by proposing "ways,"
comprising teachings, rules of life, and sacred rites. The Catholic Church
rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. She regards with sincere
reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings
which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth,
nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men. Indeed,
she proclaims, and ever must proclaim Christ "the way, the truth, and the
life" (John 14:6), in whom men may find the fullness of religious life, in
whom God has reconciled all things to Himself.(4)
The Church, therefore, exhorts her
sons, that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other
religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian
faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual
and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men.
3. The Church regards with esteem
also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself;
merciful and all- powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth,(5) who has spoken
to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable
decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in
linking itself, submitted to God. Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God,
they revere Him as a prophet. They also honor Mary, His virgin Mother; at times
they even call on her with devotion. In addition, they await the day of
judgment when God will render their desserts to all those who have been raised
up from the dead. Finally, they value the moral life and worship God especially
through prayer, almsgiving and fasting.
Since in the course of centuries not
a few quarrels and hostilities have arisen between Christians and Moslems, this
sacred synod urges all to forget the past and to work sincerely for mutual
understanding and to preserve as well as to promote together for the benefit of
all mankind social justice and moral welfare, as well as peace and freedom.
4. As the sacred synod searches into
the mystery of the Church, it remembers the bond that spiritually ties the
people of the New Covenant to Abraham's stock.
Thus the Church of Christ
acknowledges that, according to God's saving design, the beginnings of her
faith and her election are found already among the Patriarchs, Moses and the
prophets. She professes that all who believe in Christ-Abraham's sons according
to faith (6)-are included in the same Patriarch's call, and likewise that the
salvation of the Church is mysteriously foreshadowed by the chosen people's
exodus from the land of bondage. The Church, therefore, cannot forget that she
received the revelation of the Old Testament through the people with whom God
in His inexpressible mercy concluded the Ancient Covenant. Nor can she forget
that she draws sustenance from the root of that well-cultivated olive tree onto
which have been grafted the wild shoots, the Gentiles.(7) Indeed, the Church
believes that by His cross Christ, Our Peace, reconciled Jews and Gentiles.
making both one in Himself.(8)
The Church keeps ever in mind the
words of the Apostle about his kinsmen: "theirs is the sonship and the
glory and the covenants and the law and the worship and the promises; theirs
are the fathers and from them is the Christ according to the flesh" (Rom.
9:4-5), the Son of the Virgin Mary. She also recalls that the Apostles, the
Church's main-stay and pillars, as well as most of the early disciples who
proclaimed Christ's Gospel to the world, sprang from the Jewish people.
As Holy Scripture testifies,
Jerusalem did not recognize the time of her visitation,(9) nor did the Jews in
large number, accept the Gospel; indeed not a few opposed its spreading.(10)
Nevertheless, God holds the Jews most dear for the sake of their Fathers; He
does not repent of the gifts He makes or of the calls He issues-such is the
witness of the Apostle.(11) In company with the Prophets and the same Apostle,
the Church awaits that day, known to God alone, on which all peoples will
address the Lord in a single voice and "serve him shoulder to
shoulder" (Soph. 3:9).(12)
Since the spiritual patrimony common
to Christians and Jews is thus so great, this sacred synod wants to foster and
recommend that mutual understanding and respect which is the fruit, above all,
of biblical and theological studies as well as of fraternal dialogues.
True, the Jewish authorities and
those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ;(13) still, what
happened in His passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without
distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today. Although the Church is
the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed
by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures. All should see to it,
then, that in catechetical work or in the preaching of the word of God they do
not teach anything that does not conform to the truth of the Gospel and the
spirit of Christ.
Furthermore, in her rejection of
every persecution against any man, the Church, mindful of the patrimony she
shares with the Jews and moved not by political reasons but by the Gospel's
spiritual love, decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism,
directed against Jews at any time and by anyone.
Besides, as the Church has always
held and holds now, Christ underwent His passion and death freely, because of
the sins of men and out of infinite love, in order that all may reach
salvation. It is, therefore, the burden of the Church's preaching to proclaim
the cross of Christ as the sign of God's all-embracing love and as the fountain
from which every grace flows.
5. We cannot truly call on God, the
Father of all, if we refuse to treat in a brotherly way any man, created as he
is in the image of God. Man's relation to God the Father and his relation to
men his brothers are so linked together that Scripture says: "He who does
not love does not know God" (1 John 4:8).
No foundation therefore remains for
any theory or practice that leads to discrimination between man and man or
people and people, so far as their human dignity and the rights flowing from it
are concerned.
The Church reproves, as foreign to
the mind of Christ, any discrimination against men or harassment of them
because of their race, color, condition of life, or religion. On the contrary,
following in the footsteps of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, this sacred
synod ardently implores the Christian faithful to "maintain good fellowship
among the nations" (1 Peter 2:12), and, if possible, to live for their
part in peace with all men,(14) so that they may truly be sons of the Father
who is in heaven.(15)
NOTES
1. Cf. Acts 17:26
2. Cf. Wis. 8:1; Acts 14:17; Rom.
2:6-7; 1 Tim. 2:4
3. Cf. Apoc. 21:23f.
4. Cf 2 Cor. 5:18-19
5. Cf St. Gregory VII, letter XXI to
Anzir (Nacir), King of Mauritania (Pl. 148, col. 450f.)
6. Cf. Gal. 3:7
7. Cf. Rom. 11:17-24
8. Cf. Eph. 2:14-16
9. Cf. Lk. 19:44
10. Cf. Rom. 11:28
11. Cf. Rom. 11:28-29; cf. dogmatic
Constitution, Lumen Gentium (Light of nations) AAS, 57 (1965) pag. 20
12. Cf. Is. 66:23; Ps. 65:4; Rom.
11:11-32
13. Cf. John. 19:6
14. Cf. Rom. 12:18
15. Cf. Matt. 5:45
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