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Unitatis redintegratio (Restoration of unity) is the Second Vatican Council's decree on ecumenism. It was passed by a vote of 2,137 to 11 of the bishops assembled at the Council, and was promulgated by Pope Paul VI 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 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 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.

Unitatis acknowledges that there are serious problems facing prospects of reunion with Reformation communities that make no attempt to claim apostolic succession as the Anglican communion does. Ecclesial communities which adhere to Calvinism are a particularly challenging case because they and Catholicism have important doctrinal differences on key issues such as ecclesiology, liturgy and mariology. Other communities have insoluble doctrinal differences with Catholic Christianity because their theology of the Holy Trinity is manifestly incompatible with the doctrine as articulated by the council of Nicaea in the early Church.

Subsequent developments

Pope John Paul II refers to and builds on the teaching of Unitatis Redintegratio in his encyclical letter of 25 May 1995, Ut unum sint.

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".^[1]

References

^ Kasper, Walter (11 November 2004). "The Ecumenism Decree – read anew after 40 years". vatican.va. Archived from the original on 17 April 2005. Retrieved 21 June 2022.

External links

Unitatis Redintegratio

[1] Kasper, Walter (11 November 2004). "The Ecumenism Decree – read anew after 40 years". vatican.va. Archived from the original on 17 April 2005. Retrieved 21 June 2022.

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+{{Short description|1964 Catholic decree on ecumenism}}
-'''''Unitatis Redintegratio''''' is the [[Second Vatican Council|Second Vatican Council's]] '''Decree on [[Ecumenism]]'''.  It was passed by a vote of 2,137 to 11 of the bishops assembled and was promulgated by [[Pope Paul VI]] on [[November 21]], [[1964]].  The title in [[Latin]] means "Restoration of Unity," and is from the first line of the decree, as is customary with major [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] documents (see [[incipit]]).  (The full text in English is available from the [http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19641121_unitatis-redintegratio_en.html Holy See's website].)
+{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
+{{Italic title}}
+'''''Unitatis redintegratio''''' (''Restoration of unity'') is the [[Second Vatican Council]]'s decree on [[Catholic Church and ecumenism|ecumenism]]. It was passed by a vote of 2,137 to 11 of the [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|bishops]] assembled at the Council, and was promulgated by [[Pope Paul VI]] 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."
-== Contents ==
-''The numbers given correspond to the section numbers within the text.''
+==Description==
-# '''Introduction''' '''''(1)'''''
+''Unitatis Redintegratio'' calls for the reunion of Christendom and is similar to a previous call for unity by [[Pope Leo XIII]] 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]] 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]].
-# '''Catholic Principles on Ecumenism''' '''''(2-4)'''''
-# '''The Practice of Ecumenism''' '''''(5-12)'''''
-# '''Churches and Ecclesial Communities Separated from the Roman Apostolic See''' '''''(13-24)'''''
-## The Special Consideration of the Eastern Churches (14-18)
-## Separated Churches and Ecclesial Communities in the West (19-24)
+''Unitatis'' acknowledges that there are serious problems facing prospects of reunion with Reformation communities that make no attempt to claim [[apostolic succession]] as the Anglican communion does. Ecclesial communities which adhere to [[Calvinism]] are a particularly challenging case because they and Catholicism have important doctrinal differences on key issues such as [[ecclesiology]], [[liturgy]] and [[mariology]]. Other communities have insoluble doctrinal differences with Catholic Christianity because their theology of the [[Holy Trinity]] is manifestly incompatible with the doctrine as articulated by the [[First Council of Nicaea|council of Nicaea]] in the early Church.
-==Anglican communion controversy==
-[[Apostolicae Curae]] is the title of a papal bull, issued in 1896 by Pope Leo XIII, declaring all Anglican ordinations to be "absolutely null and utterly void". Unitatis Redintegratio does not mention this bull because many Anglican bishops had been re-ordained by Old Catholic bishops and their status was thought to have been settled. However, the Church had to re-assert the validity of Apostolicae Curae during the papacy of [[John Paul II]] because of new doctrinal and ecclesiological questions that were explained in the magisterial documents [[Ordinatio Sacerdotalis]], [[Ad Tuendam Fidem]], [[Dominus Iesus]] and responses on [[subsistit in]]. There are similar issues with the [[Lutheran Church]], which has bishops that do not have apostolic succession as defined in Catholic doctrine.
+==Subsequent developments==
-==Policy on the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox==
+Pope [[John Paul II]] refers to and builds on the teaching of ''Unitatis Redintegratio'' in his encyclical letter of 25 May 1995, ''[[Ut unum sint]]''.
-Unitatis Redintegratio calls for the reunion of Christendom and so it is not terribly different from previous calls for unity by Pope [[Leo XIII]] in the 1894 encyclical [[Praeclara Gratulationis Publicae]]. However, the document is somewhat different from Praeclara because it articulates a different kind of [[ecclesiology]], focusing on the unity of the [[people of God]] and on separate Christian brethren instead of a classical call for schismatics to return to the fold under the unity of the [[Vicar of Christ]].
+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".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kasper |first=Walter |author-link=Walter Kasper |date=2004-11-11 |title=The Ecumenism Decree – read anew after 40 years |url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/card-kasper-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20041111_kasper-ecumenism_en.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050417050720/https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/card-kasper-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20041111_kasper-ecumenism_en.html |archive-date=2005-04-17 |access-date=2022-06-21 |website=vatican.va}}</ref>
-==Reformation communities==
-The document acknoledges that there are serious problems facing prospects of reunion with ecclesial communities that make no attempt to claim [[apostolic succession]] such as the Anglican communion does. Reformation communities that adhere to [[calvinism]] are a particular case because they often have important doctrinal differences on key issues such as [[ecclesiology]], [[liturgy]] and [[mariology]]. Other communities affiliated to [[Restorationism]] have doctrinal differences that are insoluble with Catholic Christianity because their theology of the [[Holy Trinity]] is simply irreconcilable with the doctrine of the [[council of Nicea]] of the early Church.
+==See also==
+* [[Separated brethren]]
+* ''[[Satis Cognitum]]'', [[Pope Leo XIII]], 29 June 1896
+* ''[[Mortalium animos]]'', [[Pope Pius XI]], 1928
+* ''[[Ut unum sint]]'', [[Pope John Paul II]], 25 May 1995
+==References==
+{{Reflist}}
 ==External links==
+{{Wikiquote}}
+* [https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19641121_unitatis-redintegratio_en.html ''Unitatis Redintegratio'']
+{{Second Vatican Council}}
-*[http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19641121_unitatis-redintegratio_en.html Unitatis Redintegratio] - Text of document
 [[Category:Documents of the Second Vatican Council]]
-[[Category:Documents of the Catholic Church]]
+[[Category:Catholic Church and ecumenism]]
-[[Category:Catholic ecumenical and interfaith relations]]
+[[Category:1964 documents]]
-[[Category:1964 works]]
+[[Category:1964 in Christianity]]
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