CHAPTER 1: ECUMENICAL PROGRESS AND STAGNATION 49 Some, leaning on a straightforward interpretation of canon law, concluded from this act that Brother Roger had secretly converted to Roman Catholicism. Brother Roger’s successor as prior of the Taizé community, Brother Alois, disputed this interpretation. He recalls one of Brother Roger’s anecdotes, dating back far before the incident: He often told how, during his last meeting with John XXIII, in 1963, he was eager to hear a spiritual testament from the pope and he asked him about the place of Taizé in the Church. John XXIII replied, making circular gestures with his hands, ‘The Catholic Church is made of concentric circles that are always bigger and bigger.’ The pope did not specify in which circle he saw Taizé but Brother Roger understood that the pope wanted to say to him: you are already within, continue simply on this path. And that is what he did.122 Others considered Cardinal Ratzinger’s action an unfortunate mistake that should have been avoided. Myriam Wijlens, on the other hand, claims that the circumstances (Brother Roger’s public acceptance of Catholic doctrine concerning the sacrament, his personal friendship with the deceased pope, and the unique, non-recurring event of the funeral) actually meet the requirements of the regulations.123 Cardinal Kasper takes it one step further, noting that this was not an isolated event. He insists that Cardinal Ratzinger intended this course of action and that he did nothing unprecedented: As the years passed the faith of the prior of Taizé was progressively enriched by the patrimony of faith of the Catholic Church. According to his own testimony, it was with reference to the mystery of the Catholic faith that he understood some of the elements of the faith, such as the role of the Virgin Mary in salvation history, the real presence of Christ in the Eucharistic gifts and the apostolic ministry in the Church, including the ministry of unity exercised by the Bishop of Rome. In response to this, the Catholic Church had accepted that he take communion at the Eucharist, as he did every morning in the large church at Taizé. Brother Roger also received communion several times from the hands of Pope John Paul II, who had become 122 Jean-Marie Guenois, “Something That Was without Precedent,” trans. Taizé Community, La Croix, September 7, 2006, https://www.taize.fr/en_article6739.html. 123 Myriam Wijlens, “Eucharistiegemeinschaft mit anderen Christen,” 629-630. Wijlens uses the case to demonstrate that a careful articulation of a specific situation is part of the hermeneutic process of the interpretation of canon law and affects the outcome of canonical considerations.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw