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National Catholic Reporter, March 23, 2001 by Gill Donovan

Pope rebukes German church on laity, ecumenism, doctrine

As if to underscore that John Paul's elevation of moderate Karl Lehmann as a cardinal does not signal approval of liberalizing trends in the German church, the pope has issued a stinging letter warning of "erosion from within" in German Catholicism. The letter, addressed to all nine German cardinals, was distributed at the Feb. 21 consistory in Rome. No other national delegation received such letters.

While praising the German church for "solid organization" and efforts for the needy, the pope identified four areas of concern: marriage and the family; ecumenism; the doctrinal orthodoxy of theological schools; and the relationship between priests and laity.

The pope criticized "confusion and abuse" in the growing practice of intercommunion services among Catholics and Protestants. "An ecumenism that leaves the question of truth more or less by the side can lead only to deceptive successes," he wrote. Germany is almost evenly divided between Catholics and Protestants, and has long been in the forefront of ecumenical work.

The pope wrote that Dominus Iesus, the controversial September document reasserting the superiority of-Catholicism over other religions and Christian churches, should determine the ecumenical stance of Catholics.

As for Germany's theology schools, reputedly among the most progressive in the Catholic world, John Paul wrote that doctrine cannot be "simply left to free whims," but "must come from faith and lead to faith." He called upon bishops to exercise "powerful concern."

The pope said that "despite many clarifications" laity continue to perform inappropriate roles in liturgy, preaching and the administration of parishes. He called on the German bishops to enforce a 1997 Vatican document on the role of lay collaborators.

Groups to fight poverty with environmental protection

Voluntary organizations in eastern India, some run by the Catholic Church, have decided to fight poverty by working for preservation of nature. Representatives of 12 nongovernmental organizations agreed at a consultation that social factors such as population growth, poverty and inequality and ecological degradation are all interrelated.

Speakers at the consultation, held Feb. 16-18 in Calcutta, India, said environmental degradation is linked directly with poverty and the two cannot be fought separately. The church's social work has so far concentrated on poverty alleviation programs, said Fr. C.R. Prabhu, director of the social service organization of Jamshedpur diocese, in the eastern state of Bihar.

P. Basak, a meeting facilitator, observed that as population and social inequality grow, poor people are marginalized and tend to exploit land, water and forests more heavily for sustenance, leading to ecological degradation. He said that rich people draw a disproportionately large share of resources from nature, forcing poor people to exploit whatever is left for survival.

The richest 20 percent, of the world's population consume 14 percent of the meat and fish available, he said, quoting World Health organization data. The hunt for protein sources leads the poor to indiscriminately exploit nature, which adversely affects ecological balance, he explained.

Jesuit Fr. Robert Athickal suggested that farmers need to be trained in using organic fertilizers and shifting cultivation to increase soil fertility.

Italian officials, church leaders criticize plans to clone humans

Plans by a team of U.S. and Italian doctors to clone human babies, announced at a Rome news conference March 9, drew a chorus of negative reaction from Italian officials and church leaders. Some scientists said the project would inevitably produce premature deaths and physical aberrations, while others called it publicity stunt with little chance of succeeding.

The team is led by Panayiotis Zavos, a U.S. fertility researcher, and Severino Antinori, a controversial Italian fertility doctor. Antinori, currently facing a disciplinary hearing with Italy's medical board related to the cloning announcement, has helped women as old as 62 conceive.

The two men said the cloning would be done in a Meditterranean country, without specifying which one. They said they were responding to requests by infertile couples.

Cardinal Carlo Martini of Milan, widely considered a leading candidate to be next pope, said March 10 that scientists must remember that "human dignity is the first consideration" in using scientific knowledge.

"The human being can never be a reality fabricated solely with technology. The human being has an innate richness and natural dignity," Martini said.

Antinori, whose Rome clinic is a just a few yards from the Vatican, is no stranger to the spotlight. In 1995 he made headlines when he announced plans to help a Catholic priest from Tuscany conceive a child with his housekeeper, with whom the priest was in a "stable relationship." The priest had a deficiency that made it impossible to ejaculate, so plans called for Antinori to surgically extract sperm cells. The priest later backed out of the treatments.