The Unresolved “Roman” and “Catholic” natures of Dialogue

According to Pope Francis, dialogue is key to evangelism. In his first encyclical Evangelii gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), written in 2013 at the beginning of his papacy, Francis writes:

Evangelization…involves the path of dialogue. For the Church today, three areas of dialogue stand out where she needs to be present in order to promote full human development and to pursue the common good: dialogue with states, dialogue with society – including dialogue with cultures and the sciences – and dialogue with other believers who are not part of the Catholic Church. In each case, “the Church speaks from the light which faith offers”. (Eg n. 238).

In order to engage in dialogue, the Catholic Church and its faithful must be outward looking. They cannot remain in their comfort zones but must go forth. This point is also made clear by Francis in his first encyclical:

The word of God constantly shows us how God challenges those who believe in him “to go 
forth”. Abraham received the call to set out for a new land (cf. Gen 12:1-3). Moses heard God’s call: “Go, I send you” (Ex3:10) and led the people towards the promised land (cf. Ex 3:17). To Jeremiah God says: “To all whom I send you, you shall go” (Jer 1:7). In our day Jesus’ command to “go and make disciples” echoes in the changing scenarios and ever new challenges to the Church’s mission of evangelization, and all of us are called to take part in this new missionary “going forth”. Each Christian and every community must discern the path that the Lord points out, but all of us are asked to obey his call to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the “peripheries” in need of the light of the Gospel. (E n. 20).

Evangelicals and the evangelical church would agree. Dialogue is a necessary component of evangelization. It takes words to share the good news of Jesus Christ. It also requires believers to exit their comfort zones and engage in conversations that might be difficult. Challenging other world views with the hope of the gospel can certainly be uncomfortable. It is, however, necessary in order to share the gospel and make new disciples, as Christ commanded.

But if the evangelical church stops here and understands Roman Catholic evangelization and dialogue in this way alone, it misses the larger picture and misunderstands the interpretation of dialogue according to Pope Francis. This begins to become clear in The Joy of the Gospel and is made even more clear in Francis’s most recent encyclical Fratelli tutti (All Brothers). Again, for evangelicals, dialogue is a necessary tool for sharing about the good news of Jesus Christ and how by faith in Him we are redeemed from sin and condemnation. This message is for everyone who does not believe. Not so, however, according to Pope Francis. In Evangelii gaudium Francis writes concerning the Catholic Church’s relationship with Judaism, and says:

We hold the Jewish people in special regard because their covenant with God has never been revoked, for “the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable” (Rom 11:29). The Church, which shares with Jews an important part of the sacred Scriptures, looks upon the people of the covenant and their faith as one of the sacred roots of her own Christian identity (cf. Rom 11:16-18). As Christians, we cannot consider Judaism as a foreign religion; nor do we include the Jews among those called to turn from idols and to serve the true God (cf. 1 Thes 1:9). With them, we believe in the one God who acts in history, and with them we accept his revealed word. (Eg n. 247).

The Jewish people, then, are to be excluded from evangelistic dialogue because the Church shares with them an important part of Scripture, shares sacred roots, and believes in the same God who acts in history. Apparently, the fact that the Jewish people deny Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah and the only means to salvation and a redemptive relationship with the Lord is secondary and irrelevant.

In February of 2019 the use of dialogue as an evangelistic tool is rendered even more unclear and vague by Pope Francis. This is when together with The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar
Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, Francis signed A Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together. The document’s opening words are:

Faith leads a believer to see in the other a brother or sister to be supported and loved. Through faith in God, who has created the universe, creatures and all human beings (equal on account of his mercy), believers are called to express this human fraternity by safeguarding creation and the entire universe and supporting all persons, especially the poorest and those most in need.

A couple paragraphs later the document states about itself that:

It is a document that invites all persons who have faith in God and faith in human fraternity to unite and work together so that it may serve as a guide for future generations to advance a culture of mutual respect in the awareness of the great divine grace that makes all human beings brothers and sisters. 

Dialogue is key to building mutual respect and human fraternity:  

Dialogue among believers means coming together in the vast space of spiritual, human and shared social values and, from here, transmitting the highest moral virtues that religions aim for. It also means avoiding unproductive discussions…

According to this document faith in God creates human fraternity and makes everyone brothers and sisters. While God is frequently mentioned, exactly which god is being referred to is never specified. God is generic and apparently the same god for all of humanity. Faith in God is the same faith, albeit with different expressions. The words Jesus and Christ are completely absent from the document. It does not seem that dialogue has any evangelistic component, seeing that all are brothers and sisters.

By the time we get to Pope Francis’s latest encyclical, Fratelli tutti (All Brothers – October 2020), it becomes clear that the universal brotherhood of all mankind is at the forefront of his papacy and the Roman Catholic Church’s missional agenda. In paragraph 277 Francis writes that:

The Church esteems the ways in which God works in other religions, and “rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these religions. She has a high regard for their manner of life and conduct, their precepts and doctrines which… often reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all men and women…”

The subject of dialogue in modern-day Roman Catholicism highlights with clarity the unresolved issues of the “Roman” and “Catholic” natures of the Church. On the one hand dialogue desires to be “Roman.” It is an essential tool for evangelization. Through it the Church leaves its places of comfort and it goes forth and proclaims the gospel and makes disciples of Christ. It recognizes the importance of defining the distinctives of the Christian faith. On the other hand, dialogue is very “Catholic.” It highlights the fraternity and brotherhood of all mankind. It celebrates its commonality and affirms that which is good in humanity and its various religious expressions. It avoids discussion of Jesus and sin and refers to god generically.

But these aspects of dialogue are in competition with one another and are not compatible. Dialogue in this sense cannot be both “Roman” and “Catholic.” It cannot speak of making disciples of Christ while saying at the same time that we are all brothers and sisters. If we are all brothers and sisters, then Christ died in vain. Pope Francis seems devastatingly intent on promulgating the “Catholic” nature of dialogue and seems happy to do so at the expense of the gospel distinctives. Fratelli tutti is a document of close to 40,000 words, and not once does the word “sin” appear.

The evangelical church must take note of this important contradiction. It cannot be fooled by incomplete caricatures of dialogue in modern-day Roman Catholicism. It must understand the “Catholic” nature of dialogue and not allow itself to be courted by the “Roman” nature, which is alarmingly absent in Pope Francis’s use of dialogue. Too much is at stake.