Diaconado: orden y ministerio Prospectiva teológica desde Lumen gentium 29

Abstract

This work presents in a complete way the doctoral thesis of theology, defended by the author at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, under the direction of Dr. Edith González. It identifies and deepens the theological components related to the ordained ministry of the deacon in the Church, from a rereading of Lumen gentium 29, focused on interpreting it in its unity and uniqueness as a sacrament of orders and as an ecclesial ministry in the full sense. In this way, he shows its proper and distinct nature in the normative degree of its specific sacramentality, as well as its relationship with the other ministries, both ordained and lay. Gabriel Mesa traces the biblical and patristic foundation of the conciliar text, the binding elements of the tradition contained therein and its successive reception in the Church. He identifies the diaconate as a unique and binding part of the sacrament of Orders, which establishes conceptual differences with the priestly ministry; he clarifies the nature of the diaconate as an ecclesial ministry, its relationship with the lay ministries and the laity and its location, as an ordained ministry, in the line of the common priesthood of the faithful. It also interprets, in line with theological prospective, the ordained ministry of the deacon in its specificity, identity and spirituality, as a fundamental and binding part of the sacrament of Orders.