Author:
Publication: Zenit.org
Date: December 1, 2005
Cardinal Ruini Appeals for "Prudence
and Firmness"
The president of the Italian bishops' conference
has called for prudence given the increase of mixed Muslim-Christian marriages
in the country.
Cardinal Camillo Ruini said that "the
existential and ecclesial implications" of such unions "suggest
prudence and firmness and call for a reaffirmed awareness of the Christian
identity and Catholic view on marriage and the family, in virtue also of the
consequences that derive at the religious and social level and interreligious
dialogue."
The Pope's vicar for Rome addressed the issue
in the introduction to a note on "Marriages between Catholics and Muslims."
The note was presented Tuesday as "Guidelines of the Presidency of the
Italian Episcopal Conference."
Cardinal Ruini said that in recent years the
number of these marriages has increased notably, above all because of the
immigration of Muslims to Italy.
The document seeks to promote a "homogeneous"
position among pastors regarding the dispensation for the impediment of disparity
of worship. Such an impediment would normally invalidate a marriage between
a Catholic and a non-Christian.
The Shahada
The note, written by an interdisciplinary
group of experts, addresses in four parts the pastoral context of these unions:
the Christian view of marriage, the course of preparation, the celebration
of the marriage, and family support.
The document includes several appendices,
one of which is dedicated to the Shahada, the "testimony" or profession
of the Muslim faith, required by some Muslim countries to authorize civilly
the celebration of a marriage between a follower of Islam and a person of
another religion.
Some Catholics sign that statement, considering
it as a mere bureaucratic step to be able to get married. The note asks parish
priests to explain that it is rather "an authentic act of formal abandonment
of the Catholic faith."
Another appendix presents elements that must
be taken into account to understand the view of marriage in Islam, "a
patriarchal family with pre-established duties and roles." Polygamy,
the text reminds, is allowed in the Koran.
