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DOCUMENT ON THE CHURCH AND THE SINS OF THE PAST
To Be Presented on Day of Forgiveness Presided by Pope

VATICAN CITY, FEB 2 (ZENIT).- After 3 years of work, the document that
will guide Catholic pastors and faithful in the principles underlying
the Church's request for forgiveness for errors committed by her
children in the past is virtually complete.

The text was requested by the Pope himself. It is entitled "The Church
and the Sins of the Past: Remembering in Order to Reconcile". The
document is the fruit of the work of a team of members of the
International Theological Commission, presided by Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger.

The document follows the outline established in the Holy Father's
Apostolic Letter "Tertio Millennio Adveniente," in preparation for the
Great Jubilee of the Year 2000. According to the Italian agency
"Adn-Kronos," the document will be published within the next few weeks,
allowing Christians to consult it before the Pope gives his address on
the Day of Forgiveness -- the First Sunday of Lent.

Before writing the final document, the theologians responsible for the
project submitted the text for approval on two occasions to the 30
members of the International Theological Commission meeting in plenary
session. The vote in favor of the document was very substantial.

The text has been written for purposes of consultation; it is not a
papal document. It includes a broad theological reflection on the
meaning of purification of the memory. There is also an explanation of
the doctrinal reasons that make an act of contrition for past sins
possible, reviewing a trajectory that goes back to biblical origins,
such as the great confessions of sin before God of the Jewish people and
continuing with the principles of the Gospel. There are many examples of
historic requests for forgiveness, such as that of Adrian VI, elected
Pope in 1522, who at the time of the Reformation asked for forgiveness
for the sins of the Curia, or that of Paul VI, who atoned for the
offenses inflicted on Eastern Christians.

Recently Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger explained to "Octava Dies," a program
of the Vatican Television Center, that "the idea is not to accuse the
past; we are always sinners and we want to understand this with humility
and do penance, which renews the Church and each one."

According to declarations by Fr. Georges Cottier, secretary of the
International Theological Commission (Cf. ZE99112611) and Theologian of
the Pontifical Household, the document makes a fundamental distinction:
"the Church is holy because it receives and communicates the holiness of
Christ to humanity, although Christians are sinners, as we are all
unfaithful to Christ's grace."

We have to speak about the past, according to Dominican Fr. Cottier, for
two reasons: "the first because the communion of saints exists, by which
the Church is one through the ages, and in the Church there is a
community of charity and prayer for sins committed. In the second place,
it must be said that it is not a question of judging people, as only God
can judge persons, but when we recall the past of the Church we realize
that there have been events that are an obstacle to evangelization. On
this it is necessary to have a purification of the memory, that is, to
make a real judgment that is balanced and just."
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