The present article aims to synthesize the monumental theological analysis performed by Father Johannes Dormann on the pontificate of John Paul II. The work dissects the doctrinal premises that culminated in the Assisi Prayer Meeting in 1986, an event that, from the perspective of Catholic Tradition, represents an unprecedented scandal and a rupture with the perennial Magisterium. Dormann demonstrates, through a minute exegesis of Karol Wojtyla's writings - from his pre-papal conferences to his first three encyclicals (the "Trinitarian Trilogy") - that the Polish Pope did not act out of an isolated pastoral impulse, but rather as the systematic executor of a "New Theology". This theology, grounded in the Second Vatican Council, substitutes the Catholic dogma of Redemption with the thesis of "Universal Salvation", promoting a radical anthropocentrism that dissolves the distinction between nature and grace, and between the Church and the world.
🚫 1. The rupture with tradition: From Mortalium Animos to Assisi
Dormann begins his investigation by contrasting the Assisi event with the Church's perennial teaching, specifically the Encyclical Mortalium Animos (1928) by Pius XI. While Tradition has always condemned religious indifferentism and collaboration in worship with false religions, Assisi presented the world with the spectacle of a Pope presiding over a pantheon of idolatry. Dormann argues that, for a faithful Catholic, "Assisi touches the substance of Biblical Revelation and the Catholic Faith" (Part I, p. 8), constituting a violation of the First Commandment.
The justification for such an act is not found in Scripture or Tradition, but exclusively in the Second Vatican Council. Dormann points out that the Council, with its "pastoral language" and abandonment of scholastic precision, introduced calculated ambiguities - "loaded phrases" (Part I, p. 27) - that allowed the infiltration of the New Theology. Pope John Paul II, described as the "man of Vatican II", uses the Council not in the light of Tradition, but views Tradition and Scripture re-read through the new conciliar consciousness.
👤 2. The natural theology of Karol Wojtyla: Man as the way
Analyzing the book Sign of Contradiction (a retreat preached by Wojtyla in 1976), Dormann identifies the roots of the error. Wojtyla proposes a theology where the transcendence of the human spirit is the point of contact with God, regardless of religion. Dormann fiercely criticizes Wojtyla's thesis that "all men, from the beginning of the world until its end, have been redeemed and justified by Christ and His cross" (Part I, p. 65). This statement ignores the necessity of subjective acceptance of Redemption (Faith and Baptism). For Dormann, Wojtyla transforms objective Redemption (sufficient for all) into subjective Redemption (efficient in all) a priori. The result is that grace ceases to be a gratuitous supernatural gift to become a constituent of human nature, a thesis condemned by the previous Magisterium.
🌍 3. Redemptor Hominis: The axiom of universal salvation
In the analysis of the first encyclical of the trilogy, Redemptor Hominis (The Redeemer of Man), Dormann exposes the heart of John Paul II's theology. The central point is the interpretation of the phrase from Gaudium et Spes 22: "By his incarnation, He [the Son of God] has united himself in some fashion with every man". Dormann demonstrates that the Pope interprets this "united himself" not as a possibility or offer, but as a consummated ontological fact. "It is a question of 'every' man, for each one has been included in the mystery of the Redemption and with each one Christ has united himself for ever through this mystery" (Part II, Vol. 1, p. 186).
The critical consequences raised by Dormann are devastating:
Anonymous Christianity: If Christ is united to every man forever, then every man is a Christian, whether he knows it or not. The distinction between the Church (Mystical Body) and humanity disappears in practice.
The New Mission: The mission of the Church ceases to be baptizing to save from darkness (cf. Mk 16, 16) and becomes merely "revealing to man his own dignity". The Pope states that "Christ fully reveals man to man himself" (Part II, Vol. 1, p. 112). Revelation ceases to be theocentric to become anthropocentric.
Double Revelation: Dormann identifies two concepts of revelation in papal theology. The "A Priori Revelation" (the interior fact that every man is already united to God) and the "A Posteriori Revelation" (the historical Gospel that merely makes man aware of this pre-existing reality) (Part II, Vol. 1, p. 112).
👐 4. Dives in Misericordia: The distortion of divine fatherhood
In the second volume of Part II, Dormann analyzes the encyclical on God the Father. Here, the author denounces how the Pope reinterprets the parable of the Prodigal Son to deny the reality of the loss of sanctifying grace through mortal sin. According to John Paul II's exegesis, the prodigal son never lost his real dignity as a son, only the consciousness of it. "The father of the Prodigal Son is faithful to his fatherhood, faithful to the love that he had always lavished on his son" (Part II, Vol. 2, p. 71). Dormann argues vigorously with traditional doctrine: through original and mortal sin, man loses supernatural divine sonship and becomes a "child of wrath" (Eph 2, 3). Wojtyla's theology, however, suggests an "Indissoluble Covenant" established in Creation that sin cannot break. Dormann concludes that, for the Pope, mercy is not the forgiveness that removes sin and restores lost grace, but rather the "validation" of an inalienable human dignity that was never truly lost. This leads to the idea of "reciprocity", where God somehow "owes" mercy to man due to human dignity, inverting the Creator-creature relationship (Part II, Vol. 2, p. 137).
🕊️ 5. Dominum et Vivificantem: The pneumatological justification of syncretism
The third volume of Part II focuses on the encyclical on the Holy Spirit, which Dormann considers the immediate preparation and theological justification for Assisi. The Pope states that the Holy Spirit is active not only in the Church but in the hearts of all men and in the "seeds of the Word" present in all religions. Dormann quotes the encyclical: "The Spirit blows where he wills... and we possess 'the first fruits of the Spirit'" (Part II, Vol. 3, p. 262). Dormann's criticism is blunt:
Salvific Omnipresence: The Pope teaches that the Holy Spirit operates salvation universally, making non-Christian religions vehicles of the Spirit's action. Dormann refutes this by citing Scripture, where the Spirit is given to those who believe in Christ, and the "world" cannot receive Him (Jn 14, 17).
The Photian Trinity: Dormann accuses the Pope of adopting a view of the Trinity closer to the heresy of Photius (the Father as the sole source, minimizing the Filioque) to facilitate ecumenism, separating the action of the Spirit from the redemptive action of Christ on the Cross (Part II, Vol. 3, p. 93). This allows the Pope to affirm an action of the Spirit in other religions independent of the explicit acceptance of Christ.
The Prayer of Religions: This theology grounds the idea that when pagans pray to their idols or "divinities", it is the Holy Spirit who prompts this prayer in the "heart of man". Dormann classifies this as an aberration that equates the worship of the True God with material or formal idolatry (Part II, Vol. 3, p. 302).
🤝 6. The practical application: Ecumenism and religious liberty
Dormann's analysis demonstrates that ecumenism and religious liberty are not mere diplomatic strategies for John Paul II, but dogmatic consequences of his anthropology. If every man is saved and united to Christ, the "Church" becomes only the "sacrament" (sign) of this pre-existing unity of the human race. The unity of the Church is no longer unity in the Catholic Faith, but the "unity of the human race". The Pope substitutes the need for conversion with "conscientization". The right to religious liberty, condemned in the Syllabus of Pius IX, is defended by John Paul II as based on the ontological dignity of man, a dignity that the New Theology claims to be divine (Part II, Vol. 1, p. 175).
⚠️ Final considerations
Father Johannes Dormann concludes his exhaustive analysis with a somber verdict. The theology of John Paul II is not a continuation or homogeneous development of Catholic dogma, but a Gnostic and pantheistic substitution disguised under traditional terminology. By postulating Universal Salvation a priori (by the Incarnation and not by the application of the merits of the Cross via Sacraments and Faith), the Pope destroys the necessity of the Church, Baptism, and dogmatic Faith. Assisi was not an accident, but the "public manifestation" of this new religion. For Dormann, we are facing a theology centered on man, where the dogma of Original Sin is emptied and the distinction between the natural and supernatural order is obliterated. The work closes as a very grave warning to the Catholic faithful regarding the heterodox nature of the teachings emanating from post-conciliar Rome.
📖 Reference
DORMANN, Johannes. Pope John Paul II’s Theological Journey to the Prayer Meeting of Religions in Assisi. Part I; Part II, Vol. 1; Part II, Vol. 2; Part II, Vol. 3. Kansas City: Angelus Press, 1994-1998.
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