Call to Rome

The Vatican questions a priest

When a Roman Catholic theologian is summoned to Rome, he is wise to come prepared with cogent arguments, a respectful mien and, when possible, influential friends. Franciscan Father Leonardo Boff, 45, arrived in the Eternal City from Brazil with all three, but especially with friends. A leading exponent of liberation theology, a movement that often combines Marxist concepts with calls for social justice, Boff was asked by the Vatican to reply to a notification that his teachings were "considered dangerous," particularly in their appeal for a less authoritarian church. For support, Boff brought along two important Brazilian Cardinals, Paulo Evaristo Arns and Aloisio Lorscheider, both Franciscans.

Last week, five days after his congregation issued a warning against liberation theology, the Vatican's top doctrinal watchdog, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, met with Boff to explore the priest's views. At the four-hour interrogation, attended in part by Cardinals Arns and Lorscheider, Boff presented a 50-page reply to the charges against him. By all accounts the meeting was most amiable, and Boff will return to Brazil this week. In Rome a high-level committee will mull over his responses. The likely outcome: a statement that will announce no disciplinary action against Boff, but will criticize some of his ideas. qed -