Il ministero ordinato nell’attuale crisi della Chiesa

Problemi e prospettive (I)

Abstract

This article, the first of two parts, traces the main elements of the “systemic crisis” which the European Church is going through, finding a root in the phenomenon of clericalism. The article investigates the origins and the process of consolidation of clericalism up until the turning point of the Second Vatican Council. The article then evokes the ecclesiological renewal which the Council has ratified and favored, especially regarding ordained ministry, showing the contextual persistence of problematic elements which have left the necessary process of transformation unfinished. Concerning this position which is torn between the affirmation of a synodal viewpoint on the one hand and the permanence of sacred registers on the other, the second apart of the article will provide the positive perspectives, thus building on the historical and diagnostic data provided in the first.