Vatican City, 28th June 2005 (CNA)
- The dense Catechism of the Catholic Church,
groundbreaking when it debuted in 1992, will now
be even more accessible to those seeking to learn
and teach the Catholic faith.
The new Compendium of the Catechism of the
Catholic Church was presented earlier today at the
Vatican by a special commission of Cardinals led
by former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who, prior to
becoming Pope Benedict XVI in April, headed the
Church‘s Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith.
According to the Vatican, the decision to
create the new Compendium was born in 2002 at the
International Catechetical Congress, at which, it
was suggested to Pope John Paul II that a more
concise version of the Catechism be written to
focus on essentials of the
faith.
One year later, John Paul established a
commission to work on the compendium which
received a positive response in its first draft by
cardinals and presidents of Episcopal conferences
worldwide.The final version, presented today,
consists of 205 pages containing 598 questions and
answers, 15 images, an appendix (of the main
Christian prayers and certain formulae of Catholic
doctrine) and an alphabetical
index.
Secretary of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Angelo Amato
S.B.D. said that the compendium’s principal
characteristics are "its strict reliance on the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, its text in the
form of a dialogue, and its use of images for
catechesis."He noted that this "is not an
autonomous work and in no way aims to substitute
the Catechism of the Catholic Church, on the
contrary it constantly refers back to the
Catechism, both by indicating reference numbers
and by referring continuously to the structure,
development and contents" of the Catechism.
The new work, moreover, "aims to awaken a
renewed interest and enthusiasm for the Catechism,
which ... remains the basic text for ecclesial
catechesis today.
"The new work is divided into four main
parts, which the Vatican says correspond to the
fundamental laws of the life of Christ. In the
first part, "Profession of Faith," a brief summary
of the "lex credendi,", or the faith professed by
the Catholic Church based of the
Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed is given.
"The constant proclamation of [the creed]
in Christian assemblies”, it notes, “keeps the
principal truths of the faith alive in
memory.
"The second part, "Celebration of the
Christian Mystery," the book discusses the
essential elements of the Church‘s sacramental
life, or “lex celebrandi”, saying that, "the
announcement of the Gospel finds its authentic
response in sacramental life, in which the
faithful experience ... the salvific power of the
Paschal mystery.
"The third section, "Life in Christ", or
"'lex vivendi,' explores how the “baptized
manifest their commitment to the faith they have
professed and celebrated, through their actions
and ethical choices."The last section, "Christian
Prayer," summarizes the "lex orandi," or the life
of prayer in the Church. Here, the reader is shown
how Christians are called to a dialogue with God
in prayer, one expression of which is the Our
Father, the prayer that Jesus Himself taught
us.
The text itself is written in the form of a
dialogue which Archbishop Amato Referring says
"makes the text notably shorter, reducing it to
what is essential. This may help the reader to
grasp the contents and possibly to memorize them
as well.
"He also added a note on the use of images
in the book, saying that, "In the current culture
of images, a sacred image can express much more
than words. ... It certainly has an aesthetic
value, but above all its value is recollective
(recalling the mysteries of salvation),
catechetical (for teaching and instruction), and
theological, because it presents in artistic form
the facts and the various aspects of the doctrine
of the faith."
