Pope’s Panel Will Define Permitted Catholic Beliefs

Pope John Paul II has appointed a commission of 12 cardinals and bishops to prepare a “compendium of all Catholic doctrine” to set the limits on what the world’s 800 million Catholics may believe rather than have them pick and choose.

The Vatican announcement said the Pope acted in response to a suggestion made by the extraordinary Bishops’ Synod that met in the Vatican from Nov. 25 to Dec. 8 to review the application of proposals made by the Second Vatican Council 20 years ago.

It said the “restricted commission” would have the task of drafting a “project of catechism” on both faith and morals. When the draft is completed, “all the pastors of the church” will be asked to express an opinion on it.

Eventually, the final text will be submitted to the Pope for approval. Its teachings will apply to the world’s 800 million Roman Catholics.

The commission will be headed by German Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican body in charge of Roman Catholic teaching.

The commission includes two U.S. cardinals, William Wakefield Baum, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, and Bernard F. Law, archbishop of Boston, who was the chief sponsor of the proposal at the fall synod.

At the time of the synod, the sponsors said a universal catechism is necessary to spell out clearly traditional and fundamental church teaching and keep Catholics from picking and choosing what they wish to believe.

A catechism is a handbook of questions and answers for teaching the principles of a religion. A compendium is defined in the dictionary as a “summary containing essential information in brief form.”

The other panel members are Cardinal Simon D. Lourdusamy of India, Cardinal Jozef Tomko of Czechoslovakia, Cardinal Antonio Innocenti of Italy, Archbishop Jerzy Stroba of Poland; Archbishop Neophytos Edelby of Syria; Archbishop Henry Sebastian d’Souza of India; Archbishop Coadjutor Isidore de Souza of Benin; Titular Archbishop Jan. P. Schotte of Belgium, and Bishop Felipe Santiago Benitez Avalos of Paraguay.