Revista crítica de Derecho Canónico Pluriconfesional / Rivista critica di diritto canonico molticonfessionale


ISSN 2341-3956 versión electrónica
ISSN 2387-1873 versión impresa
Depósito Legal: MA 2137-2014



Pedro Rodríguez García, lawyer, canonist and a first-class of European Theology (Cartagena, 19th July 1933)

Manuel J. PELÁEZ
María C. AMAYA GALVÁN
Cristina M. CASTILLO


Para citar este artículo puede utilizarse el siguiente formato:

Manuel J. Peláez, María C. Amaya Galván y Cristina M. Castillo (2015): «Pedro Rodríguez García, lawyer, canonist and a first-class of European Theology (Cartagena, 19th July 1933)», en Kritische Zeitschrift für überkonfessionelles Kirchenrecht, n. 2 (febrero de 2015), pp. 203-206.

Resumen: Semblanza biográfica de Pedro Rodríguez García, teólogo internacionalmente reconocido, licenciado y doctor en Derecho, cultivador también del derecho canónico y de la Eclesiología, del estudio de las relaciones entre la Iglesia católica y otras iglesias ortodoxas, anglicana, luterana, y autor de un número considerable de publicaciones, poniendo en evidencia la fecundidad teológica y la fecundidad eclesiológica de Santo Tomás de Aquino, deudor en parte de San Agustín. Estudioso también del Catecismo de Trento, del que descubrió el original manuscrito. Respecto a la Ecclesia in terris, escribe sobre la Iglesia empírica, que no puede reducirse a un análisis sociológico, que ni siquiera es preferencial. El derecho canónico, al reflexionar sobre las prelaturas territoriales y personales, también está estudiando la Iglesia. No coincide Rodríguez con la idea de Iglesia empírica de Hans Küng. Para P. Rodríguez, al reflexionar sobre el fin y la misión de la Iglesia hay que hablar de los munera Ecclesiae, que para algunos autores serían tres y para otros cinco.

Palabras clave: Pedro Rodríguez García, José Ramón Villar, Hans Küng, Christoph Schömborn.

Pedro Rodríguez García is an important character, proof of this is the fact that he was chosen as one of the forty thousand most significant Spaniards of all time. In XXth century American Theology there have been first-class figures such as Leonardo Boff (b. 1938) and Gustavo Gutiérrez Merino (b. 1928) (due to his ideological influence in Latin America even though his theological thought itself may be considered atypical; but it should be said in his favour that Yale University, which is one of the most outstanding universities in the world, awarded him an honorary doctorate), in Europe Johann Baptist Metz (b. 1928), and the extremely relevant Hans Küng (a theologian who has struggled to achieve, quite unsuccessfully, the close connection between Theology and modern thought). Then, we will focus on the Theology Faculty of the University of Navarra since Pedro Rodríguez García belongs to this institution and, together with José Luis Illanes and José Ramón Villar, they form a group of internationally recognized leading theologians. Pedro Rodríguez García is ahead of other Spanish theologians during the XXth century and the first decade of the XXIst century as regards his intellectual recognition in the German Theology sphere, where he stands out together with Olegario González de Cardedal, while he almost lacks scientific impact index in the cultivated and elegant French speaking sphere, where other Spanish theologians excel.

Pedro Rodríguez García was born in Cartagena on 19th July 1933. He is son of Pedro Rodríguez Contreras and Justina García Sanz de Andino [who is a descendant of the famous XIXth century Commercial and Criminal Law expert, Pedro Sáinz de Andino (1786-1863), although his surname has been slightly changed]. He undertook his secondary studies in Madrid at the Chamberí Marist Brothers School and the Cartagena State High School, where he first contacted Opus Dei through Salvador Hernández Conesa (who was once chosen as Spanish doctor of the year) and José María Fernández Ros, an „proselytenmacherisch Panzer“, and he applied for his admission to this Catholic Church institution. Rodríguez García studied Law in the University of Madrid between 1950 and 1956, and, then, was awarded a Cum laude PhD in the University of Navarra for his PhD thesis entitled La naturaleza de las Prelaturas personales. Contribución al estudio de su figura jurídica en perspectiva teológico-canónica, which was directed by the Civil and Ecclesiastical Law professor Amadeo de Fuenmayor Champín (1915-2005). Between 1956 and 1959, he undertook both BA and PhD studies in Theology at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome and became a Summa cum laude Doctor in Sacred Theology for his PhD thesis Planteamiento doctrinal del progresismo cristiano, which was directed by Ugo Lattanzzi. He was ordained as a priest on 10th August 1958. Rodríguez García was the founder and editor-in-chief of the journal Palabra from September 1965 to October 1970. After that he became a lecturer in the Theology Faculty of the University of Navarra where he has taught from 1967-1968 academic year until he retired in 2003. In this Faculty, he became a tenured lecturer in Dogmatic Theology in 1974, and, in 2003-2004 academic year, an emeritus lecturer. In this academic institution he was Director of Studies and Research Director; between 1992 and 1998 he was the Dean of Faculty, and even chaired the Board of Deans of Theology Faculties in Spain in 1996-1997 academic year. Rodríguez García was also editor-in-chief of the journal Scripta theologica from 1976 to 1989. He has been a member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas since 1980, a Prelate of Honor of His Holiness since 1993 and an Ecumenical consultant (1985-2005), and a member of the Theology Advisory Committee of the Spanish Episcopal Conference since 1997. On 3rd February 2011 he was renewed in this latter position and the members of the Advisory Committee were, apart from Pedro Rodríguez García, Santiago del Cura Elena, Leonardo Rodríguez Duplà, Ángel María Navarro Lecanda, Domingo Muñoz León, Avelino de Luis Ferreras, Gabriel Ramis Miquel, Cándido Pozo Sánchez, Antonio Rodríguez Carmona, Ramón Trevijano Etcheverría, Lorenzo Trujillo Díaz, Salvador Pié Ninot, Alejandro Martínez Sierra, Juan Miguel Díaz Rodelas, Alfonso Fernández Benito, and José García Oró. He has been a full member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Doctors since 2009, where he was welcomed by a speech delivered by the Jesuit and Bishop Juan Antonio Martínez Camino.

Pedro Rodríguez’s research on the Roman Catechism unveiled its original manuscript in the Vatican Secret Archives. This was a first-rate finding which attracted the unusual attention of German Theology scholars, in particular Christoph Schömborn’s (El catecismo de la Iglesia Católica: ideas directrices y temas fundamentales, Madrid, 1994, pp. 41-66) and that of the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. This critical edition has been cited thirteen times in the regular edition (2001) of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Pedro Rodríguez confronted Anton Ziegenaus as a result of Rodríguez’s thought regarding the sacrament of Confirmation. Pedro Rodríguez’s main disciple and follower, the legal scholar and theologian, mentioned above, who was Dean of the Theology Faculty in the University of Navarra (2004-2010), José Ramón Villar, who, more than anyone else, has highlighted his ecclesiological contributions together with the Portuguese Miguel de Salis and the Spaniard Ramiro Pellitero. His historical and critical study in a monumental edition of the 999 points of the spirituality classical work The Way has led to considerable reflection in Theology journals and to a collective work coordinated by Constantine Anchel, who is a freelancer in Theology. Rodríguez García has created a prolific school of experts in ecumenism, among whom we may find the aforementioned Jutta Burggraf, who was at the top and far above the other experts until her death, Arturo Cattaneo, the Aragonese Villar, mentioned above, and the Argentinian Raúl Lanzetti and Philip Goyret. Pedro Rodríguez included Ecumenical Theology in the syllabus from the beginning of the Theology Faculty of the University of Navarra, thus being the first institution in Spain to include this subject. He has published over ten thousand pages on Theology in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, English, Catalan, and German. What follows is a selected list of his publications: Planteamiento doctrinal del progresismo cristiano, Madrid, 1961; Renovación en la Iglesia. Comentarios a la “Ecclesiam Suam”, Madrid, 1964; “Carisma e institución en la Iglesia”, in Studium, 7 (1966), pp. 479-496; “Il laicato in prospettiva ecumenica”, in Studi cattolici, 80 (1967), pp. 3-11; “Ministerio y comunidad. Estudio de sus relaciones en orden a la fundamentación de una teología del ministerio eclesiástico”, in Scripta Theologica, 2 (1970), pp. 119-142; in collaboration with W. Mogge and O. Roegele, Das Amt des Bischofs, Cologne, 1972; Fe y vida de fe, Pamplona, 1974; in collaboration with J. L. Illanes, Progresismo y liberación, Pamplona, 1975; “Infallibilis? La respuesta de Santo Tomás. Estudio de la terminología infallibilis-infallibiliter-infallibilitas en sus tratados de fide”, in Scripta theologica, 7 (1975), pp. 51-124; “Un bilancio del Vaticano II”, in Studi cattolici, 20 (1976), pp. 731-740; Urgencia de la catequesis en el mundo actual, Pamplona, 1976; Iglesia y ecumenismo, Madrid, 1979; in collaboration with L. Elders and F. Inciarte, Die Person in Anspruch sittlicher Normen, St. Augustin, 1981; “El sentido de la Primera Carta a los Corintios sobre el ministerio eclesiástico: la interpretación de Santo Tomás”, in Escritos del Vedat, 9 (1981), pp. 361-378; in collaboration with R. Lanzetti, El Catecismo Romano: fuentes e historia del texto y de la redacción. Bases críticas para el estudio teológico del catecismo del Concilio de Trento (1566), Pamplona, 1982; Iglesias particulares y prelaturas personales. Consideraciones teológicas a propósito de una nueva institución canónica, Pamplona, 1985; El Manuscrito original del Catecismo Romano. Descripción del material y los trabajos al servicio de la edición crítica del catecismo del Concilio de Trento, Pamplona, 1985; “El concepto de estructura fundamental de la Iglesia”, in Veritati catholicae. Festschrift für Leo Scheffczyk zum 65 Geburtstag, Aschaffenburg, 1985, pp. 237-246; “Die Kirche als Heilsgemeinschaft”, in Das Europäische Erbe und seine christliche Zukunft, Cologne, 1985, pp. 192-205 and 357-369; “La salvezza nella vita della Chiesa”, in Salvezza cristiana e culture odierne, Atti del II Congresso internazionale “La Sapienza della croce oggi”, Rome, 1985, vol. II, pp. 9-29; Vocación, trabajo, contemplación, Pamplona, 1986; “La identidad teológica del laico”, in Scripta theologica, 19 (1987), pp. 265-302; “Actitudes humanas ante Cristo”, in several authors, Jesucristo hoy, Madrid, 1990, pp. 263-283; “Omnia traham ad meipsum. Il significato di Giovanni 12, 32 nell’esperienza spirituale di Mons. Escrivá de Balaguer”, in Annales theologici, 6 (1992), pp. 5-34; in collaboration with Fernando Ocáriz and José Luis Illanes, El Opus Dei en la Iglesia. Introducción eclesiológica a la vida y el apostolado del Opus Dei, Madrid, 1993 [translated into French, English, Italian, German, and Portuguese]; El catecismo de la Iglesia Católica: interpretación histórico-teológica, Pamplona, 1994; “Pastori e laici: distinzione dei ruoli nella Dottrina sociale della Chiesa”, in I Cattolici e la società pluralista. Il caso delle “leggi imperfete”, Simposio internazionale (Roma, 9 al 12 de noviembre de 1994), Bologna, 1996, pp. 158-198; “La Iglesia, creatura evangelii: contribución a la recepción eclesial del documento Iglesia y justificación”, in Diálogo ecuménico, 31 (1996), pp. 375-399; “Trabajo y vida cristiana en San Agustín”, in Revista agustiniana, vol. XXXVIII, nº 115-116 (1997), pp. 339-377; “Perspectivas para la nueva evangelización”, in Scripta theologica, 29 (1997), pp. 749-790; El Catecismo Romano ante Felipe II y la Inquisición española. Los problemas de la introducción en España del catecismo del Concilio de Trento, Madrid, 1998; “Trinità, chiesa, eucaristia. Rilettura del Documento di Monaco 1982”, in Studi in onore del prof. Donato Valentini, Rome, 1999, pp. 965-985; “Theological Method for Ecclesiology”, in The Gift of the Church. A Textbook on Ecclesiology in Honor of Patrick Granfield, O.S.B., Minnesota, 2000, pp. 129-156; “El diálogo teológico entre la Iglesia Católica y la Iglesia Ortodoxa: I. De los inicios a la relación de Bari (1962-1987)”, in Las Iglesias Orientales, Madrid, 2000, pp. 347-458; “Natura e fini del primato del Papa: il Vaticano I alla luce del Vaticano II”, in Il primato del successore di Pietro nel mistero della Chiesa. Testo e commenti, Vatican City, pp. 81-111; “En torno a la ‘definición’ esencial de la Iglesia”, in In communione Ecclesiae. Miscelánea en honor del cardenal Antonio Mª Rouco Varela, Madrid, 2003, pp. 601-618; Vocación cristiana y llamada a la santidad, University of Sabana, Bogota, 2003; “Cinco tesis sobre el sentido de los ‘templos’ en la Iglesia Católica”, in Signum et testimonium. Estudios ofrecidos al Prof. Antonio García Moreno en su 70 cumpleaños, Pamplona, 2003, pp. 297-324; “Tomás de Aquino y el catecismo Romano. Una cuestión histórico-teológica acerca de la necesidad del Bautismo”, in Indubitanter ad veritatem. Studies offered to Leo J. Elders, Damon, 2003, pp. 366-376; “Para una comprensión del carácter ‘cristiano’ de la gracia”, in Dar razón de la esperanza. Homenaje al Prof. José Luis Illanes, Pamplona, 2004, pp. 455-465; “La contemplación de Dios en la tradición cristiana. Visión sintética”, in Scripta Theologica, 37 (2005), pp. 761-797; „Der geistige Kult der Neuen Bundes nach der Lehre des Heiliges Thomas von Aquin“, in „Donum veritatis“. Theologie im Dienst an der Kirche. Festschrift zum 70. Geburtstag von Anton Ziegenaus, Regensburg, 2006; Iglesia: misterio y misión. Diez lecciones sobre eclesiología del Concilio Vaticano II, Buenos Aires, 2006; “El culto cristiano”, in La liturgia en la vida de la Iglesia. Culto y celebración, Pamplona, 2007, pp. 29-46; “Las iglesias orientales y las Comunidades cristianas nacidas de la Reforma: estatuto eclesiológico”, in “Subsistit in Ecclesia Catolica”. Precisiones sobre la eclesiología del Concilio Vaticano II, Madrid, 2007, pp. 63-73; “La questione del «subsistit»”, in Studi Cattolici, No. 561 (2007), pp. 756-763; “El doctorado de San Josemaría en la Universidad de Madrid”, in Studia et Documenta, 2 (2008), pp. 13-103; Evangelio y oración: “lectio divina”, Madrid, 2008; “La riforma della Penitenzieria Apostolica all’epoca di San Pio V. Una riflessione storico-teologia”, in La Penitenzieria Apostolica e il Sacramento della Penitenza. Percorsi storici-giuridici-teologici e prospettive pastorali, Vatican City, 2009, pp. 135-148; “El Catecismo de Carranza y el Catecismo Romano”, in Anuario de Historia de la Iglesia, XVIII (2009), pp. 145-166; “El «sacrum ministerium» en los comentarios de Santo Tomás al «corpus paulinum»”, in Saint Thomas’s Interpretation of Saint Paul’s Doctrines, Vatican City, 2009, pp. 154-172; La misión del sacerdote en la Iglesia, Pamplona, 2011; Opus Dei: struttura & missione: un profilo ecclesiologico, Milan, 2013; translation in spanish and introduction of Johann Adam Möhler, El celibato sacerdotal, Madrid, 2012; edition with com. of Amar al mundo apasionadamente, México, 2014 [Recibido el 28 de diciembre de 2014].




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