The living legacy of San John Henry Newman, next Church doctor

Pope Leo XIV will grant the title of Doctor of the Universal Church to San John Henry Newman, a brilliant theologian and one of the most influential Catholicism of the last centuries.

Born in London in 1801, the life of the saint was marked by the tireless search for truth, which led him to become Anglicanism to Catholicism in 1845.

Fr. Juan Rodrigo Vélez, an expert priest in the life and work of Newman and author of several books about him, explained in an interview granted to Ewtn News the meaning of the gesture of Leo XIV and the reasons why his thought remains a light for the theological understanding of our time.

A holiness attainable by all

From Miami, Fr. Vélez remarked that Newman is “above all a saint who tells us about holiness for all,” since he taught, especially the laity, that “they are called to holiness, as did San José María Escrivá, San Juan Paul II and other saints.”

Therefore, he expresses his joy and gratitude for the recent decision of Pope León: “It is a day of thanksgiving to God and to take the study of faith more seriously, such as catechism”, since “he evidenced the importance of the study of the Bible and the teachings of the Church.”

“Many times,” says Fr. Vélez, “we stayed with primary school knowledge and we don’t continue with the studies of the Faith and Word of God, and so he is going. He was a scholar and invited the laity to study the Word of God.”

Harmony between faith and science

Another relevant aspect is that “I taught that there is a harmony between faith and science.” As P. Vélez said, it is “different ways of knowing God and when they are true they do not contradict themselves. A true knowledge of science does not contradict the knowledge of theology, they are different fields of knowledge that they have to respect themselves,” he explained.

Another significant element of his life is that the English Holy taught that “personal growth, such as church growth, means development and change, and in the Church there are doctrinal, liturgical and also in his government.”

Discern whether a change contradicts the word of God

However, Fr. Vélez stressed, “those changes can be authentic and good changes or can be corruption and damage.” In this context, the Holy Convert “established criteria to know how to discern when a change is good and when it is bad, because many people talk about change as something new, but does not go further to study how to know if it does not contradict the word of God or tradition.”

“Today the development of the doctrine of the Church and the liturgy is presented, which some are valid, but we must study it in detail, because many changes can be accepted as errors,” he said.

This teaching is, for Fr. Vélez, one of the possible titles that the Holy Father gives him by officially proclaiming him as a doctor of the Church.

It emphasizes that “the Church has wonderful teachings, but doctors and teachers who teach faith are needed (…). For evangelization it is necessary to expose faith, and that is what Newman does.”

This concession, adds Fr. Vélez, “will help the Church and its evangelization in England, but also in Spanish -speaking countries,” and insists on the relevance of reading his writings, since “he has a lot to tell us.”

The value of consciousness

He also highlighted the teaching that Newman left about the value of consciousness and “the importance of acting with a well -formed awareness, according to the revelation and teaching of teaching. We cannot be mediocre Christians,” he said.

“Following Saint Thomas, he said that consciousness is the voice of God, which speaks to us as a king, strongly, clearly, and is based on teaching. Consciousness is not above the law, but is our immediate guide, but above is what God reveals to us,” he explained below. “That can be another title, ‘Doctor of Consciousness,” he said.

A deep life of prayer

Fr. Vélez also recalls that Benedict XVI traveled to England to preside over his beatification “because of the importance he gave to the then cardinal.” In addition, he stressed that Newman is known for his writings, but regretted that he knows less about his prayer life. “He spoke of knowing God in prayer, in sacramental life.”

In this regard, he cited his work Meditations and devotionswhich are “little biblical prayers that show the depth of their love to God.”

Finally, Fr. Vélez stressed the support that Newman gave to converts and evangelizing work in the oratory that he founded in England: “Many people became listening to him, reading their writings and with their help,” he concluded.