Tissa Balasuriya is a
Sri LankaSri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
n Roman Catholic
priestA priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
and theologian.
Theological work
In 1971 Balasuriya founded the Center for Society and Religion; four years later he founded the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians. In 1990, Balasuriya published the book
Mary and Human Liberation. In 1994, the Sri Lankan bishops warned that the book included heretical content because it misrepresented the doctrine of original sin and cast serious doubts on the divinity of Christ. Balasuriya submitted a 55-page theological defense to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which rejected it.
Doctrinal investigation
In May 1996, the Congregation demanded that he sign a profession of faith, apparently written exclusively for him, stating that he would "adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings of the Roman pontiff," even those teachings not proclaimed as definitive.
Excommunication
Balasuriya responded by signing a different profession of faith composed by Pope Paul VI, adding a caveat that he was signing it "in the context of theological development and church practice since Vatican II and the freedom and responsibility of Christians and theological searchers under canon law." Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger ruled that the caveat rendered the profession "defective." Balasuriya appealed directly to the Pope, but was excommunicated on 2 January 1997, with the Pope's approval.
Lifting of the excommunication
Balasuriya then appealed to the Apostolic Signatura, but was told that his case could not go forward. He subsequently agreed to drop the caveat from his profession of faith, and after intense international publicity and six days of negotiations, the excommunication was rescinded in January 1998. Although Balasuriya did not admit to doctrinal error, he did acknowledge "perceptions of error", and agreed to submit all future writings to his bishops for the imprimatur.
External links
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GFDL.
