OPENING A REAL DEBATE INSIDE THE CHURCH

Luigi Accattoli

Vatican expert from "Corriere della Sera"

Can the Great Jubilee have a grand meaning for the world? The answer is not all that obvious. It could have one, but because the world realizes it, its necessary to have strong signs which respond to the strong expectations of the epoch. These signs where proposed by the Pope, but we don't know yet if they will be there - that is if the Church will follow the papal indications - and if they will have the epochal impact that was hoped.

If there had not been the papal proposal, surprisingly ample and inventive, we would not even ask ourselves if the world could lend itself to be interested in an event celebrated within the Christian world. The papal proposal has transformed -an idea - an event celebrated ad intra to an historic appointment ad extra.

We must verify whether the execution will equal the idea. If the celebration knows how to present itself as a fact. The exam at the end of the millennium, the new martyrology, the pan-Christian encounter, the appointment on Sinai, the moves of justice and peace in a global dimension are the elements of the papal proposal that have attracted the attention of the world. If at the end of the words, facts follow, if the Church follows the Pope (and not only passively, but with live dialectic), than the attention of the world will be returned in sum.

To compare the Great Jubilee to the Council, even in the sphere of the impact of the mass media, would be excessive. Instead, I believe its more reasonable to see the proposal of the jubilee of John Paul II as a message of Vatican II: as on the whole it is presented in Tertio Millennio Adveniente.

From the time Pope John convoked Vatican II, the Catholic Church lives in a state of the Council. It's almost as though that assembly never ended. The holding of this convocation - that leans towards becoming permanent - seems to naturally lead to a Vatican III. The Great Jubilee can be seen as the emergence of the duration of that conciliary convocation. But not even this result is obvious.

Because the jubilee could in some way bring back to life the conciliatory climate, it would be necessary to spark a debate, which up until today has not existed. The lack of a real debate inside the Church is the limit of initiatives, as they have been put today.

There has been a great Papal proposal and there is the motion of execution. But a concerted nature is lacking and a discussion. If they do not take this to heart, there is the risk of an abatement of the execution, which the profane world, can only with great difficulty become impassioned.