Professors Doubt Papal Council Will Reunify Christian Churches

The Ecumenical Council proposed by Pope John XXIII will not result in the unity of Christendom unless major Catholic doctrine is withdrawn, Frank M. Cross, Hancock Professor of Hebrew and other Oriental Languages, said last night.

"Unity necessarily must involve the shift of the Catholic doctrine which insists on the error of all non-Catholic doctrine," Cross explained. "Protestants would require Catholic acceptance of their doctrine as orthodox and legitimate."

Cross added that he supports the unity of Christendom with plurality of doctrine. "The differences which exist enrich the church," he said. "I would like to see the Roman Catholic Church join a movement such as the World Council of Churches."

"The Ecumenical Council raises the whole issue of unity to a higher level," noted Christopher H. Dawson, Charles Chauncey Stillman Professor of Roman Catholic Studies.

"Dogma cannot be altered," Dawson explained, "but the canon law of the Eastern Rite will be recodified." Cross had speculated that this change might make unity more attractive to Eastern churches which accept most Catholic doctrine but reject papal supremacy, than to Protestant churches.

"I have no notion at all that the Pope has any intention of wooing Protestants," Cross said. "He is wooing the schismatic Roman Catholic churches."

"Recodification of the canon law is of no significance whatever," claimed Georges Florovsky, professor of Eastern Church History. "The problem has existed for a long time," he said, "and past attempts at compromise have only aggravated it."

Florovsky added that the cooperation of religious groups is inevitable in a pluralistic society and that this situation is now developing. However, he insisted that such friendliness really "solves no problem."