c. 1998 RELIGION NEWS SERVICE

UNDATED _ The Vatican has lifted the year-old excommunication of the Rev. Tissa Balasuriya, the controversial Sri Lankan Roman Catholic theologian whose views on papal infallibility, Jesus and Mary landed him in hot water with the church’s doctrinal watchdogs.

The excommunication, imposed in January 1997 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was ended after Balasuriya agreed to sign a profession of faith written in 1968 by Pope Paul VI.

But Balasuriya did not recant any of his views.

Instead, he said in a statement accompanying the profession of faith, he realized”serious ambiguities and doctrinal errors were perceived in my writings and, therefore, provoked negative reactions from other parties, affected relationships and led to an unfortunate polarization in the ecclesial community.” Balasuriya did, however, promise to submit his future writings regarding faith and morals for official approval before they are published.

Church officials in Sri Lanka said a ceremony of reconciliation was held Jan. 15 in the chapel of Archbishop Nicholas Fernando of Colombo.”Since all the conditions indicated by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for the reconciliation are now implemented … I hereby declare the remission of the excommunication,”Fernando said in his official proclamation.

Balasuriya, 73, is one of the most influential Roman Catholic theologians in Asia and his case attracted worldwide attention, including strong support for his stance from the fourth international assembly of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians, who wrote the pope on Balasuriya’s behalf.

The case was resolved when Balasuriya agreed to sign the Paul VI profession of faith. He had earlier refused to sign a similar document drafted by the Vatican, which contained a provision saying he agreed the church did not have the authority to ordain women to the priesthood. The Vatican had refused his earlier suggestion he sign the Paul VI profession with his own amendment saying church doctrine had”developed”in the 30 years since Paul VI.

At the center of the controversy was Balasuriya’s 1990 book”Mary and Human Liberation.”In the book, the Sri Lankan theologians suggests, for example, that”a doctrine evolved in one context in which it is harmless may have bad effects in another situation”and Christian doctrine that was developed in Europe”may have to be rethought when the church has to live in a plural context of differents religions and social systems,”such as Asia.”Thus if any teaching or practice … looks down on other religions, considers itself as so possessing the truth as to be intolerant of others, or marginalizes a section of humanity such as the poor or women … it cannot be from God,”he wrote.

In excommunicating Balasuriya, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed by doctrinal conservative Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, said the theologian denied church teaching on Mary, original sin, papal infallibility, the nature of Jesus and the necessity of baptism.

From the beginning, Balasuriya has maintained his work falls within the acceptable parameters of Catholic orthodoxy.

MJP END ANDERSON