“A theology that recalls modern reason to its own limits”

La Croix: What do you remember of theologian Joseph Ratzinger?

Michel Fedou : His insistence on the link between faith and reason, between reason and religion. It is a constant and recurring theme in his work. For him, this is rooted in the testimony of the ancient Church, given the importance that early Christianity gave to the logos, to reason.

In his eyes, the encounter of Christianity with the Greek logos is not pure chance, but something absolutely essential. What is at stake is the ability of faith to express and account for itself in believable language.

This articulation has the corollary of reminding reason of the importance of faith…

M. F. : Absolutely. Joseph Ratzinger has never ceased to denounce a reason that would not be open to transcendence. We see this quite exemplarily in his dialogue with the philosopher Jürgen Habermas, in Munich in 2004, around the relationship between reason and religion. Joseph Ratzinger argues that democratic law and secular reason are not always able to curb the use of force.

However, he also recognizes that religions do not offer a simple solution to violence, because there are “pathologies in religion”. This leads Joseph Ratzinger to consider that religion must find in reason a sort of reference point and even an organ of control. This goes for all religions, including Christianity.

Did not the way in which Benedict XVI articulated reason and faith make it difficult to dialogue with many philosophers defending the autonomy of reason?

M. F. : Effectively. From this point of view, even in Munich, there was not really a dialogue between Joseph Ratzinger and Jürgen Habermas. We have two positions facing each other, each trying to integrate something from the other position, but only up to a certain point.

For Joseph Ratzinger, modern reason must be called back to its own limits. And modern societies are threatened by relativism, favored in his eyes by the pluralism that characterizes our societies. There is in him the idea that Christianity has an unavoidable responsibility in societies. Not that he should tell them what to do, but still…

His years at the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) were marked by a series of condemnations of theologians. How do you review it?

M. F. : As prefect of the CDF, Joseph Ratzinger took critical positions in relation to certain currents of theology. The most famous case was that of the theologies of liberation. A first instruction from the CDF severely denounced the risk of collusion with Marxism and the danger of reducing the category of salvation to that of liberation.

However, some time later, a second more open instruction was published, so much so that the theme of “the preferential option for the poor”, coming from liberation theology, ended up passing into the language of the magisterium of the ‘Church.

Another example, in the field of the theology of religions: the declaration Dominus Iesus (2000). In this text, Joseph Ratzinger wanted to emphasize the uniqueness of Christ and the universality of the offer of salvation offered by Christ, at a time when theological voices could suggest a certain questioning of these affirmations.

I believe that today we must look at these interventions as points of reference. It would be a mistake to believe that, in the name of these reminders, there would be no room for open theological research. On the theology of religions, I would add that, when he became pope, Joseph Ratzinger expressed his concern to truly follow the line of John Paul II and the meeting at Assisi.

The Dominus Iesus declaration, which denied Protestant communities the status of churches, deeply shocked Protestants. Hasn’t it slowed down ecumenism?

M. F. : These remarks were indeed badly received by the Churches resulting from the Protestant Reformation. It is all the more regrettable that this was not the primary object of this declaration. We can say that the problem still remains to be solved today. In the Catholic Church, we remain dependent on the formula of Vatican II in Lumen Gentium (§ 8), which says that the one Church of Christ “subsists” in the Catholic Church. For me, it is important that the Catholic Church, without ceasing to confess a single Church, can better recognize the ecclesiality of other Churches and Christian communities.

On ecumenism, Benedict XVI took significant steps thereafter. During his trip to Germany in 2011, he told the Orthodox: “We can hope that the day will not be so far away when we can again celebrate the Eucharist together. And when he visited the former Augustinian convent where Luther had been a monk, he commented on Luther’s words, “How can I have a merciful God?” considering it as our question today.

What can be said of his reading of the Second Vatican Council?

M. F. : Like Father Henri de Lubac, he considered that the Council had marked a turning point in the life of the Church and that it marked a novelty which was not a rupture. For him, the Council carries out a return to the great tradition of the Church, in particular that of the Fathers of the Church, without however being pure repetition.

In keeping with tradition, was there no way to go further?

M. F. : After Vatican II, other readings have more recognized the radical pluralism of our societies. The work of the theologian Karl Rahner is exemplary from this point of view. It leads to a different view of the question of God and the place of Christians in society.

One thing continues to surprise me about this. When I met Benedict XVI at the presentation of the Joseph-Ratzinger Prize, he asked me: “Are there works in France on the work of Karl Rahner? It seems that, until the end of his life, he was aware of a difference between his thought and that of Rahner and that he was interested in the reception of his work.

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Read Joseph Ratzinger theologian

As a theologian, teacher and then pope, Joseph Ratzinger has published more than forty books, translated into French, including:

*The Christian Faith Yesterday and Today (1969) (Cerf, 2020)

*One Lord, One Faith (Mame, 1971)

*Looking at Christ (Fayard, 2005)

*Death and the Beyond (Fayard, 2005)

*L’Esprit de la liturgie (Ad Solem, 2001)

*The Jesus of Nazareth trilogy (t. 1, Flammarion, 2007; t. 2, Le Rocher, 2011; t. 3, Flammarion, 2012)

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