The presentation of the document “The Bishop of Rome” on June 13 was occasion for a a rare exercise in parrhesia (candor) when Cardinal Kurt Koch responded to a question about the ecumenical impact of Fiducia Supplicans. It was a reasonable question, since the Coptic Orthodox Church decided to suspend theological dialogue over the document.
That fact alone was potentially very telling, since dialogue between the Coptic Orthodox and the Catholic Church was going very well until it wasn’t. The leader of the Copts, Pope Tawadros of Alexandria, had even appeared alongside Pope Francis at a general audience while visiting – among other things – for the historic recording of the Coptic martyrs of Libya in the Roman martyrology.
When Cardinal Koch was asked about this, the response was that “Fiducia Supplicans has also raised concerns within the Catholic Church.” Koch noted, “It had never happened that all of Africa stood against a document.” Then he said that the Coptic co-president of the Catholic-Eastern Orthodox Commission had immediately asked for clarification and that he was not satisfied with Cardinal Fernandez’s written clarifications. Cardinal Fernandez then went to Egypt, but there still needs to be news of a resumption of theological dialogue.
Why are Koch’s words a rare exercise in parrhesia? Because they were candid, they pointed the finger at an internal problem of the Church and of document structuring; they did not hide the problems. And it is, after all, rare at a time when the Pontificate of Pope Francis is defined through narrative.
What Koch said about Fiducia Supplicans rather belies the official narrative that resistance to Pope Francis exists only within the Catholic Church. Above all, it breaks a climate that wants to pretend everything is alright when it’s not.
Read the rest: http://www.mondayvatican.com/vatican/pope-francis-another-key-to-understanding
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