Editing Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (section)

==Relationship with the Catholic Church==

In 1925, Teilhard was ordered by the [[Superior General of the Society of Jesus]], [[Wlodimir Ledóchowski|Włodzimierz Ledóchowski]], to leave his teaching position in France and to sign a statement withdrawing his controversial statements regarding the doctrine of original sin. Rather than quit the Society of Jesus, Teilhard obeyed and departed for China.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

This was the first of a series of condemnations by a range of ecclesiastical officials that would continue until after Teilhard's death. In August 1939, he was told by his Jesuit superior in [[Beijing]], "Father, as an [[Evolutionism|evolutionist]] and a Communist, you are undesirable here, and will have to return to France as soon as possible".{{sfn|Cuénot|1965|p=239}} The climax of these condemnations was a 1962 ''[[monitum]]'' (warning) of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith cautioning on Teilhard's works. It said:<ref>{{Cite news |last=O'Connell |first=Gerard |date=21 November 2017 |title=Will Pope Francis remove the Vatican's 'warning' from Teilhard de Chardin's writings? |work=[[America (magazine)|America]] |url=https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2017/11/21/will-pope-francis-remove-vaticans-warning-teilhard-de-chardins-writings |url-status=dead |access-date=21 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171122030118/https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2017/11/21/will-pope-francis-remove-vaticans-warning-teilhard-de-chardins-writings |archive-date=22 November 2017}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Several works of Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, some of which were posthumously published, are being edited and are gaining a good deal of success. Prescinding from a judgement about those points that concern the positive sciences, it is sufficiently clear that the above-mentioned works abound in such ambiguities and indeed even serious errors, as to offend Catholic doctrine. For this reason, the most eminent and most revered Fathers of the Holy Office exhort all Ordinaries as well as the superiors of Religious institutes, rectors of seminaries and presidents of universities, effectively to protect the minds, particularly of the youth, against the dangers presented by the works of Fr. Teilhard de Chardin and of his followers.}}

The [[Holy Office]] did not, however, place any of Teilhard's writings on the ''[[Index Librorum Prohibitorum]]'' (Index of Forbidden Books), which still existed during Teilhard's lifetime and at the time of the 1962 decree.

Shortly thereafter, prominent clerics mounted a strong theological defense of Teilhard's works. [[Henri de Lubac]] (later a Cardinal) wrote three comprehensive books on the theology of Teilhard de Chardin in the 1960s.<ref>Wojciech Sadłoń, Teologia Teilharda de Chardin. Studium nad komentarzami Henri de Lubaca, Warszawa, UKSW 2009</ref> While de Lubac mentioned that Teilhard was less than precise in some of his concepts, he affirmed the orthodoxy of Teilhard de Chardin and responded to Teilhard's critics: "We need not concern ourselves with a number of detractors of Teilhard, in whom emotion has blunted intelligence".<ref>Cardinal Henri Cardinal de Lubac&nbsp;– ''The Religion of Teilhard de Chardin'', Image Books (1968)</ref> Later that decade Joseph Ratzinger, a German theologian who became [[Pope Benedict XVI]], spoke glowingly of Teilhard's Christology in Ratzinger's ''Introduction to Christianity'':<ref>Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal; Pope Benedict XVI; Benedict; J. R. Foster; Michael J. Miller (4 June 2010). ''Introduction To Christianity'', 2nd Edition (Kindle Locations 2840-2865). Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.</ref>

{{blockquote|It must be regarded as an important service of Teilhard de Chardin's that he rethought these ideas from the angle of the modern view of the world and, in spite of a not entirely unobjectionable tendency toward the biological approach, nevertheless on the whole grasped them correctly and in any case made them accessible once again.|sign=|source=}}

On 20 July 1981, the Holy See stated that, after consultation of cardinals Casaroli and [[Franjo Šeper|Šeper]], the letter did not change the position of the warning issued by the Holy Office on 30 June 1962, which pointed out that Teilhard's work contained ambiguities and grave doctrinal errors.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1981-07-20 |title=Teilhard de Chardin |url=https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/teilhard-de-chardin-2595 |access-date=2019-12-31 |website=www.ewtn.com |publisher=L'osservatore romano |page=2}}</ref>

Cardinal Ratzinger in his book ''[[The Spirit of the Liturgy]]'' incorporates Teilhard's vision as a touchstone of the Catholic Mass:<ref>– Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal; Pope Benedict XVI (11 June 2009). The Spirit of the Liturgy (Kindle Locations 260–270). Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.</ref>{{blockquote|And so we can now say that the goal of worship and the goal of creation as a whole are one and the same—divinization, a world of freedom and love. But this means that the historical makes its appearance in the cosmic. The cosmos is not a kind of closed building, a stationary container in which history may by chance take place. It is itself movement, from its one beginning to its one end. In a sense, creation is history. Against the background of the modern evolutionary world view, Teilhard de Chardin depicted the cosmos as a process of ascent, a series of unions. From very simple beginnings the path leads to ever greater and more complex unities, in which multiplicity is not abolished but merged into a growing synthesis, leading to the "Noosphere" in which spirit and its understanding embrace the whole and are blended into a kind of living organism. Invoking the epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians, Teilhard looks on Christ as the energy that strives toward the Noosphere and finally incorporates everything in its "fullness". From here Teilhard went on to give a new meaning to Christian worship: the transubstantiated Host is the anticipation of the transformation and divinization of matter in the christological "fullness". In his view, the [[Eucharist]] provides the movement of the cosmos with its direction; it anticipates its goal and at the same time urges it on.}}

Cardinal [[Avery Dulles]] said in 2004:<ref>A Eucharistic Church: The Vision of John Paul II&nbsp;– McGinley Lecture, University, 10 November 2004</ref>

{{blockquote|In his own poetic style, the French Jesuit Teilhard de Chardin liked to meditate on the Eucharist as the first fruits of the new creation. In an essay called The Monstrance he describes how, kneeling in prayer, he had a sensation that the Host was beginning to grow until at last, through its mysterious expansion, "the whole world had become incandescent, had itself become like a single giant Host". Although it would probably be incorrect to imagine that the universe will eventually be transubstantiated, Teilhard correctly identified the connection between the Eucharist and the final glorification of the cosmos.}}

Cardinal [[Christoph Schönborn]] wrote in 2007:<ref>Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, Creation, Evolution, and a Rational Faith, Ignatian Press (2007)</ref>

{{blockquote|Hardly anyone else has tried to bring together the knowledge of Christ and the idea of evolution as the scientist (paleontologist) and theologian Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J., has done.&nbsp;...  His fascinating vision&nbsp;... has represented a great hope, the hope that faith in Christ and a scientific approach to the world can be brought together.&nbsp;...  These brief references to Teilhard cannot do justice to his efforts. The fascination which Teilhard de Chardin exercised for an entire generation stemmed from his radical manner of looking at science and Christian faith together.}}

In July 2009, Vatican spokesman [[Federico Lombardi]] said, "By now, no one would dream of saying that [Teilhard] is a heterodox author who shouldn't be studied."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Allen |first=John |date=28 July 2009 |title=Pope cites Teilhardian vision of the cosmos as a 'living host' |work=National Catholic Reporter |url=http://ncronline.org/news/pope-cites-teilhardian-vision-cosmos-living-host |access-date=19 June 2015}}</ref>

[[Pope Francis]] refers to Teilhard's eschatological contribution in his encyclical ''[[Laudato si']]''.<ref name="Laudato si">{{Citation |last=Pope Francis |title=ENCYCLICAL LETTER LAUDATO SI' OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME |date=24 May 2015 |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si_en.pdf |page=61 |access-date=20 June 2015}}</ref>

The philosopher [[Dietrich von Hildebrand]] criticized severely the work of Teilhard. According to Hildebrand, in a conversation after a lecture by Teilhard: "He (Teilhard) ignored completely the decisive difference between nature and supernature. After a lively discussion in which I ventured a criticism of his ideas, I had an opportunity to speak to Teilhard privately. When our talk touched on [[Augustine of Hippo|St. Augustine]], he exclaimed violently: 'Don't mention that unfortunate man; he spoiled everything by introducing the supernatural.'"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Von Hildebrand |first=Dietrich |url=https://archive.org/details/trojanhorseincit00vonh |title=Trojan Horse in the City of God |publisher=Sophia Inst Pr |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-918477-18-7}}</ref> Von Hildebrand writes that Teilhardism is incompatible with Christianity, substitutes efficiency for sanctity, dehumanizes man, and describes love as merely cosmic energy.