Pope Leo must read my most humble blog, Southern Orders, as last week I recommended that the Pope encourage the cardinals at the Extraordinary Consistory to reread the documents of Vatican II and in particular Sacrosanctum Concilium, so that the liturgy might be revised in the conservative and traditional way that Sacrosanctum Concilium explicitly asked, not Bugnini’s wild reinterpretation of the the Council Fathers!
Pope Leo: Rereading Council's documents as Pope Benedict XVI urged!
"Therefore, while we hear the call not to let (Vatican II’s) prophecy fade, and to continue to seek ways and means to implement its insights, it will be important to get to know it again closely, and to do so not through 'hearsay' or interpretations that have been given, but by rereading its documents and reflecting on their content."
My most humble, brilliant comments embedded in red with Pope Leo’s text:
Brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome!
After the Jubilee Year, during which we focused on the mysteries of Jesus' life, we begin a new series of catecheses dedicated to the Second Vatican Council and a rereading of its documents. (Yes, Holy Father, I have pleaded that the actual documents of Vatican II be reread with Pope Benedict’s hermeneutic of continuity!) This is a precious opportunity to rediscover the beauty and importance of this ecclesial event. Saint John Paul II, at the end of the Jubilee of 2000, stated: "I feel more than ever the duty to point to the Council as the great grace from which the Church benefited in the twentieth century" (Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, 57).
Along with the anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, in 2025 we commemorated the sixtieth anniversary of the Second Vatican Council. Although the time separating us from this event is not so great, it is equally true that the generation of bishops, theologians, and believers of Vatican II is no longer with us today. (This is why Pope Benedict’s hermeneutic of continuity is so important—he played an important role at Vatican II and knew it up close and personal!) Therefore, while we feel the call not to extinguish its prophecy and to continue seeking ways and means to implement its insights, it will be important to re-acquaint ourselves with it, and to do so not through hearsay or the interpretations that have been given, but by rereading its Documents and reflecting on their content. Indeed, it is the Magisterium that remains the guiding light of the Church's journey today. As Benedict XVI taught, "with the passing of the years, the documents have not lost their relevance; their teachings prove particularly pertinent in relation to the new needs of the Church and of today's globalized society" (First message after the Mass with the Cardinal electors, April 20, 2005).
When Pope Saint John XXIII opened the Council on October 11, 1962, he spoke of it as the dawn of a day of light for the entire Church. The work of the numerous Fathers convened, drawn from Churches on every continent, effectively paved the way for a new ecclesial era. After a rich biblical, theological, and liturgical reflection that spanned the twentieth century, the Second Vatican Council rediscovered the face of God as a Father who, in Christ, calls us to be his children. It looked at the Church in the light of Christ, the light of the people, as a mystery of communion and a sacrament of unity between God and his people. He initiated a major liturgical reform, placing the mystery of salvation and the active and conscious participation of all the People of God at its center. At the same time, he helped us open ourselves to the world and embrace the changes and challenges of the modern era through dialogue and co-responsibility, as a Church that desires to open its arms to humanity, echo the hopes and anxieties of peoples, and collaborate in building a more just and fraternal society. (Hopefully, the Holy Father and the Bishops in union with him will also take stock of how the malicious interpretations of Vatican II have so damaged the actual vision of Vatican II and of Pope John XXIII himself!)
Thanks to the Second Vatican Council, "the Church becomes word; the Church becomes message; the Church becomes conversation" (St. Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Ecclesiam Suam, 67), committing itself to seeking the truth through ecumenism, interreligious dialogue, and dialogue with people of good will.
This spirit, this interior attitude, must characterize our spiritual life and the pastoral action of the Church, for we must still more fully implement ecclesial reform in a ministerial manner and, faced with today's challenges, we are called to remain attentive interpreters of the signs of the times, joyful heralds of the Gospel, courageous witnesses of justice and peace. Bishop Albino Luciani, the future Pope John Paul I, as Bishop of Vittorio Veneto, wrote prophetically at the beginning of the Council: "As always, there is a need to create not so much organisms or methods or structures, but a deeper and more widespread holiness. […] (While Pope Leo will quote next something Pope Francis said, the fact is that Pope Francis did not use existing structures to lead the Church, but rather sidelined the College of Cardinals, only spoke to his hand selected G-9 and then created a new synodal structure that became a nightmare of political lobbying to change Catholic faith and morals, immutable doctrines and dogmas.) It may be that the excellent and abundant fruits of a Council will be seen centuries later and will mature by laboriously overcoming conflicts and adverse situations." [1] Rediscovering the Council, therefore, as Pope Francis stated, helps us to "restore the primacy to God and to a Church that is crazy with love for her Lord and for all men, loved by him" (Homily on the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, 11 October 2022).
Brothers and sisters, what Saint Paul VI said to the Council Fathers at the conclusion of their work remains a guiding principle for us today. He stated that the time had come to depart, to leave the Council assembly to go out to meet humanity and bring it the good news of the Gospel, in the knowledge that he had lived through a time of grace in which past, present, and future were condensed: "The past: because the Church of Christ is gathered here, with its tradition, its history, its Councils, its Doctors, its Saints. [...] The present: because we leave each other to go out into the world of today, with its miseries, its pains, its sins, but also with its prodigious achievements, its values, its virtues. [...] The future, finally, is there, in the peoples' imperious appeal for greater justice, in their desire for peace, in their conscious or unconscious thirst for a higher life: precisely that which the Church of Christ can and wishes to give them" (St. Paul VI, Message to the Council Fathers, December 8, 1965). (It seems to me that St. Pope Paul VI was saying the same thing that Pope Benedict would say much later, but Paul VI says it in a different way: the council must be interpreted with the hermeneutic of continuity with the Church of the Past!)
It is the same for us. By approaching the Documents of the Second Vatican Council and rediscovering their prophecy and timeliness, we welcome the rich tradition of the Church's life and, at the same time, we question ourselves about the present and renew the joy of running out to meet the world to bring it the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, a kingdom of love, justice, and peace. (It remains to be seen if the Pope, the College of Cardinals and the other Bishops in union with the Pope can adequately critique the deleterious “spirit of Vatican II” interpretations that have led to so many Catholics abandoning the practice of the faith, for example in some European countries where less that 5% of Catholics attend Mass! And also the loss of religious orders due to the lack of religious order vocations and the leaving of religious life as well as the decline in the number of priests and fewer vocations to the priesthood. And then the mess that the Modern, fabricated (as Pope Benedict described it) Mass of Bugnini that has opened the door to very serious liturgical abuses which are not only illicit but in many cases renders the Modern Mass invalid! And bishops who do not correct liturgical abuses but also are responsible for them in their own celebrations, but when it comes to the TLM they act like Nazis to prevent its celebration. And in the Modern Rite they act like nazis to crush Latin, the traditional altar arrangement, kneeling for Holy Communion at a kneeler or altar railing and the use of Latin, Roman vestments and private prayers of the priest before and after Mass and intinction! It is indeed the upside down Church!)
2 comments:
I feel like I've listened to calls to reread these docs for years - empty words. I hope they mean it this time. Otherwise, the cardinals just had a nice 2 days in Rome/Vatican with a nice papal lunch. Hoping they get to work.
If the internet had existed in the 1960s, the so-called "progressives" would have had a much harder time in succeeding with their liturgical revolution. The actual words of Sacrosanctum Concilium would have been widely available and the clergy and laity would readily know that what the progressives were selling did not meet the criteria of that document.
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