World

Pope To Make Mea Culpa

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

March 7, 2000 / 11:21 AM EST / CBS

Pope John Paul II -- always determined to make history not merely be carried along by it -- will issue a sweeping, unprecedented apology next Sunday for sins committed by the Catholic Church over the past 2,000 years.

A Vatican document issued Tuesday asked forgiveness for excesses committed in the church's name, including persecution of non-Christians during the Crusades and torture of the insufficiently righteous during the Inquisition.

The pope's upcoming request for forgiveness should not be seen as "spectacular self-flagellation" but an attempt to heal historic wounds, Vatican officials said Tuesday.

The officials spoke at a news conference explaining the theological and historical framework for a service in St. Peter's Square Sunday in which the Pope will pronounce an unprecedented "mea culpa" for the church's past mistakes.

The pope's request, to be marked on the church's millennium "Day of Forgiveness," is expected to include seeking pardon for its treatment of Jews, women and native peoples, the Crusades, the Inquisition and actions that hurt Christian unity.

"The past is never completely dead," said Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, president of the Vatican's committee for the 2000 Jubilee Year.

"It survives with persistent after-effects of wrong attitudes and mentalities," he told a news conference on the church's attempt at "purification of memory."

Etchegaray said the church's request for forgiveness "although it is public, cannot assume the form of a spectacular self-flagellation or even less so be seen as a stage for sick curiosity."

"If the church is looking humbly to her past, it is because she wants to face the present in a better way and enter the new millennium in a resolute way," Etchegaray said.

The pope has said often in recent years that all Catholics should see the start of the millennium as an ideal opportunity to seek forgiveness for past sins, including those of the church as a community.

The Vatican officials explained a new document, Memory and Reconciliation, which outlined a theological framework for seeking forgiveness. The document was first issued last week in Paris.

Saying "the body of the church is full of scars," Etchegaray said the pope will "implore forgiveness for the past and present sins of her children."

But he and other Vatican officials presenting the document said the confession of today would not imply a judgment on the Christians of the past and that the pope would not name names.

"One thing must be forcefully stated," said Archbishop Piero Marini, the Vatican's master of liturgical ceremonies. "The confession of sins made by the pope is addressed to God, who alone can forgive sins, but it is also made before men, from whom the responsibilities of Christians cannot be hidden."

The new document, which lays the theological groundork for Sunday's service, dedicated one section to the thorny relations between Christians and Jews over the past 2000 years.

But the role of the Church during the Second World War -- when Pope Pius XII refused to publicly condemn the Holocaust -- is only dealt with in general terms. Anti-Semitism is called a sin, but the Church says the jury of history is still out on Pius' inaction.

"There are people, also Jewish -- Jews -- who think that Pius XII has worked very well for them," Msgr. Bruno Forte, the co-author of the Vatican Document. "We try to be honest."

But not honest enough, say people who have studied that dark period.

"The papacy can do no wrong, and I think that hell will freeze over before a pope in modern times will criticize a predecessor," said John Cornwell, the author of Hitler's Pope. "And this goes for Pius XII as well."

In making this historic confession the Vatican is, in a way, looking for exoneration -- trying to wipe the slate clean. While that may satisfy many within the Church, it's doubtful it will satisfy everyone outside. For many the memories are still to fresh the wounds still too deep, reports CBS News Correspondent Mark Phillips.

Many of Rome's Jews -- survivors of a community decimated by the Nazis on the Vatican's doorstep -- wanted more.

"The document raises more questions than it gives answers," said Tullia Zevi of the European Jewish Congress.

The Catholic Church has asked for forgiveness for its sins, but admits, that can only come from a higher power.