Dominus Iesus
As far as Protestants are concerned, the Inquisition marked the year 2000 Jubilee by reaffirming Rome’s unique “salvific†position. The Inquisition’s Declaration was entitled Dominus Iesus (see Box). It was ratified by the Pope in June and published by the Inquisition in August. The English edition of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano issued the full text as a special supplement to an edition which also covered the beatification of Pius IX, the Pope who affirmed papal infallibility in 1870. This appeared under the sub headline, “Pius IX gave absolute primacy to God and spiritual valuesâ€. The insert was lavishly illustrated with early icons of a severe looking Christ. L’Osservatore pointedly included one from the national Museum of Lviv in the Ukraine, the heartland of the battle between the Latin Rite and Russian Orthodox churches.
Dominus Iesus granted “sister church†status to the Eastern Orthodox Churches but “on the other hand†denied that Protestant churches are true Churches. Ratzinger held a Vatican press conference on September 5th. He is reported as saying “the document was a necessary response to the theology of religious pluralism, which is growing not only in theological circles, but also more generally in Catholic public opinion … there is a growing body of opinion suggesting that other religions can offer an important complement to the teachings of Christianity.â€