La "jerarquía de verdades” de Unitatis redintegratio a Evangelii Gaudium

Abstract

On occasion of the publication of the Evangelii Gaudium exhortation and after 50 years of the promulgation of the Unitatis redintegratio decree - both propounding the principle of “hierarchies of truth” - the author analyzes the history of this principle and the conciliar fathers’ intention for incorporating it to the conciliar decree on ecumenism. He then offers an account of elements relative to the theological and magisterial interpretation of the “hierarchies of truth” within the Catholic Church. The author further presents, taking into account that the principle was intended for interconfessional theological dialogues, data related to its reception by Protestant theologians, references made to it in the official theological dialogues and the only ecumenical explanation found in the document written by the Joint Working Group between the World Council of Churches and the Catholic Church. Some elements related to the practical use of the “hierarchies of truth” by the Groupe des Dombes in their document about Marian theology are presented as a means to verify its applicability. Finally as a conclusion, the author goes back to the Evangelii Gaudium proposal and deals with some refl ections regarding the possible applicability of the “hierarchies of truth” in the moral teachings of the Church.