''Unitatis redintegratio'' (''Restoration of unity'') is the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

's decree on

ecumenism Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...

. It was passed by a vote of 2,137 to 11 of the

bishops A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

assembled at the Council, and was promulgated by

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

on 21 November 1964. The title of the document is taken from the opening words of the Latin text. The opening words of the official English translation are: "The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council."

Description

''Unitatis Redintegratio'' calls for the reunion of Christendom and is similar to a previous call for unity by

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...

in his 1894 encyclical letter '' Praeclara gratulationis publicae'' and by Pope Pius IX in his encyclical '' In Suprema Petri Apostoli Sede''. However, ''Unitatis'' articulates a different kind of

ecclesiology In Christian theology, ecclesiology is the study of the Church, the origins of Christianity, its relationship to Jesus, its role in salvation, its polity, its discipline, its eschatology, and its leadership. In its early history, one of th ...

from ''Praeclara''. It focuses on the unity of the people of God and on separated Christian brethren rather than insisting according to the classical formulation that schismatics must return to the fold under the unity of the

Vicar of Christ Vicar of Christ () is a term used in different ways and with different Theology, theological connotations throughout history. The original notion of a vicar is as an "earthly representative of Christ", but it is also used in the sense of "person ...

. ''Unitatis'' acknowledges that there are serious problems facing prospects of reunion with Reformation communities that make no attempt to claim

apostolic succession Apostolic succession is the method whereby the Christian ministry, ministry of the Christian Church is considered by some Christian denominations to be derived from the Twelve Apostles, apostles by a continuous succession, which has usually been ...

as the Anglican communion does. Ecclesial communities which adhere to

Calvinism Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyteri ...

are a particularly challenging case because they and Catholicism have important doctrinal differences on key issues such as

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

and

mariology Mariology is the Christian theological study of Mary, mother of Jesus. Mariology seeks to relate doctrine or dogma about Mary to other doctrines of the faith, such as those concerning Jesus and notions about redemption, intercession and g ...

. Other communities have insoluble doctrinal differences with Catholic Christianity because their theology of the

Holy Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three ...

is manifestly incompatible with the doctrine as articulated by the council of Nicaea in the early Church.

Subsequent developments

Pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

refers to and builds on the teaching of ''Unitatis Redintegratio'' in his encyclical letter of 25 May 1995, ''

Ut unum sint ''Ut unum sint'' (Latin: 'That they all may be one, That they may be one') is an encyclical on ecumenism by Pope John Paul II of 25 May 1995. It was one of 14 encyclicals he issued, and Cardinal Georges Cottier, Theologian of the Pontifical Hou ...

''. Cardinal Walter Kasper discussed the status of the problems by the document on the 40th anniversary of the promulgation of ''Unitatis'' in remarks entitled "The Decree on Ecumenism – Read Anew After Forty Years".

References

External links

''Unitatis Redintegratio''
{{Second Vatican Council Documents of the Second Vatican Council Catholic Church and ecumenism 1964 documents 1964 in Christianity

Description

Subsequent developments

See also

References

External links