If You opened any book about the consequences of the Second Vatican Council, You would certainly find a paragraph or chapter full of praises for the Council, because of great progress in the sphere of ecumenism. It would be written about the "opening" of the Church to the world and about rediscovering the Gospel in the context of contacts with other religions. Beatiful worlds, alas completely unfounded. But let's start from the beginning.
The term "ecumenical" is not new. It was used even in antiquity, but in totally different meaning. When one heard about an "ecumenical council" it meant simply that it applied to the whole Church, in contrary to e.g. a synod. The ecumenism itself was also seen in a completely different way. It was a striving for reaching the absolute unity of Faith (Going therefore, teach ye all nations: baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.[Matt. 28,19]), but not in the way of consensus, but of fighting doctrinal errors. That's why Council of Trent was summoned and so many encyclicals were written. Simultaneously many missionary congregations were founded in order to convey Saviour's Message to the furthest ends of the world, just as He wished.
Today the situation is completely different. The Lord's order to teach the Catholic Faith is forgotten by many. Instead of being apostles, the majority of hierarchs prefer to organise ecumenical meetings. In practise it means that they assure all non-Catholics that it is absolutely fine not to convert to the Catholic Church, and that their faith is wonderful, maybe even more "Godly" than the Catholic one. As a reason for such actions they cite Christ's prayer for His disciples (John 17,21): That they all may be one. They think that because of never-ending "discussions" the unity of Faith will be reached. To refute this way of thinking one may mention an unbelieveable number of apostasies and divorces in the last 50 years and the enormous secularisation which has never happened in the whole history of the Church.
I do not intend to prove that the modern ecumenism is a huge mistake by giving examples; there are many of them on the Internet. I would rather concentrated on that little excerpt from the Gospel of St. John. It became "trendy" among ecumenists due to John Paul II who, in his first encyclical
Redemptor Hominis, presented this fragment as a foundation of the whole modern ecumenical movement (chap.1 no.6). His quotation, however, must be regarded as an error. It had been taken out of the context, what may be proven easily by reading the whole 17 chapter of the Gospel of St. John. As it is relatively short I put it here:
17:1. These things Jesus spoke: and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said: the hour is come. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee.
17:2. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he may give eternal life
to all whom thou hast given him.
17:3. Now this is eternal life: That they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
17:4. I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
17:5. And now glorify thou me, O Father, with thyself, with the glory which I had, before the world was, with thee.
17:6. I have manifested thy name
to the men whom thou hast given me out of the world. Thine they were: and to me thou gavest them. And they have kept thy word.
17:7. Now they have known that all things which thou hast given me are from thee:
17:8. Because the words which thou gavest me, I have given to them. And they have received them and have known in very deed that I came out from thee: and they have believed that thou didst send me.
17:9.
I pray for them.
I pray not for the world, but for them whom thou hast given me: because they are thine.
17:10. And all my things are thine, and thine are mine: and I am glorified in them.
17:11. And now I am not in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name whom thou hast given me: that they may be one, as we also are.
17:12. While I was with them, I kept them in thy name. Those whom thou gavest me have I kept: and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition: that the scripture may be fulfilled.
17:13. And now I come to thee: and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy filled in themselves.
17:14. I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them: because they are not of the world, as I also am not of the world.
17:15. I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from evil.
17:16. They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world.
17:17. Sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth.
17:18. As thou hast sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
17:19. And for them do I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
17:20.
And not for them only do I pray, but for them also who through their word shall believe in me.
17:21.
That they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
17:22. And the glory which thou hast given me, I have given to them: that, they may be one, as we also are one.
17:23. I in them, and thou in me: that they may be made perfect in one: and the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them, as thou hast also loved me.
17:24. Father, I will that where I am, they also whom thou hast given me may be with me: that they may see my glory which thou hast given me, because thou hast loved me before the creation of the world.
17:25. Just Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee. And these have known that thou hast sent me.
17:26. And I have made known thy name to them and will make it known: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
Jesus, as may be clearly seen now, does not pray for all people but only for those who were given to Him. He does not pray for strenghts for them to organise inter-religious meetings, but for the
one, strong faith. A faith based on Christ, not on inter-religious agreements.
To conclude, the modern ecumenism is unfounded not only because of its rotten fruits, but also because there are no true theological foundations which would justify its existence.
Sapienti sat.
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