Subsistit in
Subsistit in is a Latin phrase which appears in Lumen gentium, the fundamental document on the church from the Second Vatican Council of the Catholic Church. Since the Council the reason for use of the term "subsists in" rather than simply “is” has been disputed. Generally, those who see little or no change in church teaching in Vatican II insist on the equivalence of subsistit in and “is”. Those who point to a new, ecumenical thrust in Vatican II insist that the term was introduced as a compromise after much discussion, and acknowledges new elements in the Council's teaching.
The context of the statement is:
This is a debate about externals, the institutional integrity of a church, the fullness of the means of salvation. "There is no question of denying that a non-Catholic community, perhaps lacking much in the order of means, can achieve a higher degree of communion in the life of Christ in faith, hope and love than many a Catholic community."
Development of doctrine
The issue
The correct meaning of "subsists in" has important implications for how the Catholic Church views itself and its relations with other Christian communities and other religions. Questions have been raised about whether Lumen gentium altered the longstanding phrase according to which the Church of Christ is the Catholic Church. Lumen gentium does recognize that other Christian ecclesial communities have elements of sanctification and of truth. And the Council used the traditional term "Church" to refer to the Eastern Churches not in full communion with the Catholic Church. "These Churches," it said, "although separated from us, yet possess true sacraments and above all, by apostolic succession, the priesthood and the Eucharist, whereby they are linked with us in closest intimacy."Development
After the 16th century Reformation, Catholic theology identified the Church of Christ with the Catholic Church. This continued through the teaching of popes Pius XI and Pius XII. At the Second Vatican Council, the preparatory draft for the Decree on the Church contained this long-held understanding, following Pius XII in identifying the Mystical Body of Christ with the Catholic Church.The American ecclesiologist Joseph A. Komonchak chronicles the breakdown of this long-held understanding at the Council. The Council's Doctrinal Commission explained the change in the final draft of Lumen gentium from "is" to "subsists in", "so that the expression may better accord with the affirmation about ecclesial elements which are present elsewhere." Komonchak points out that since "some wanted to strengthen the statement, others to weaken it" the Doctrinal Commission decided to stay with the change of verb. He suggests that following "the first rule of conciliar hermeneutics" we should examine statements of Vatican II about these "ecclesial elements" found outside the Catholic Church. He mentions that the same document, Lumen gentium, preferred to speak of those "fully incorporated" into the church and avoided the term "membership". It mentioned that "several elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside its visible structure." Elements mentioned as a part of the church's visible structure that are "present elsewhere" include the Spirit of Christ, the means of salvation, the profession of faith, and sacraments. This is reinforced in the decree on ecumenism which says: "Very many, of the most significant elements and endowments that together go to build up and to give life to the Church itself can exist outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church: the written Word of God, the life of grace, faith, hope, and charity, with other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as visible elements... not a few of the sacred actions of the Christian religion." The decree then says that only the Catholic Church has the "fullness of the means of salvation". Cardinal Walter Kasper has pointed out that, as to this claim that the fullness of the Church of Christ resides in the Catholic Church, this "does not refer to subjective holiness but to the sacramental and institutional means of salvation, the sacraments and the ministries."
Ongoing dispute
Progressives and traditionalists have continued to argue their point on whether "subsists in" means "is": did Vatican II say that the Catholic church is the only church that Jesus founded?Some point to Paul VI's statement that seems to favor the identity of the two terms. In response, others point out that many “became increasingly alarmed at relatively early signs of regression beginning in the pontificate of Paul VI." This regression is further noted in the near disappearance, in the Extraordinary Synod of 1985, of the term "The People of God", another key concept of the Council.
Sebastian Tromp as author
, a Dutch Jesuit, a Scholastic theologian and close to Pope Pius XII, is considered to have been the main though unacknowledged author of Mystici corporis Christi. As advisor to Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani during Vatican II, Tromp was also, according to existing tape recordings and diaries, the father of "subsistit", which to his understanding of Latin did not mean anything new but indicated completeness. But Francis A. Sullivan pointed out:When in 2007 a statement from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith called into question the contemporary consensus on the import of the use of "subsistit", some identified inconsistencies in the Congregation's own statement, and pointed out that this goes against four decades of teaching by such eminent theologians as Christopher Butler, Yves Congar, George Tavard, Joseph A. Komonchak, and Francis A. Sullivan.
Response to traditionalists
Traditional Catholic groups consider Lumen gentium one of several demarcations of when the post-conciliar Church has issued problematic statements, pointing to the use of "subsistit in" rather than "est" as an abdication of the Church's historic identification of itself alone as God's church.In an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, then-Cardinal Ratzinger responded to this criticism as follows: