1 August 2007

But the most interesting response was the last of the ten. To a priest who told him about his disappointment with the many dreams that were awakened in him by Vatican Council II but then vanished, Benedict XVI replied by recounting his own experience and his own views of the Council and the period after it: the initial enthusiasm, the tension between those who interpreted the true “spirit” of the Council as a sort of cultural revolution and those who instead reacted against the Council itself, the historic upheavals of 1968 and 1989, the Church’s ability to move forward, in spite of everything, along the right path, in silence and humility...

The Pope speaks, among other things, about Vatican II.

For his complete answer on Vatican II and the "Spirit of Vatican II" click on the above link and then scroll down. I love this phrase:

And thus it seems to me that we must rediscover the great heritage of the Council, which is not a “spirit” reconstructed behind the texts, but the great conciliar texts themselves, reread today with the experiences that we have had and that have born fruit in so many movements, in so many new religious communities.

This is the heart of the matter for Benedict. It seems to me that Papa Benedict isn't rejecting Vatican II, in fact he wants Vatican II to succeed. But as noted above he wants that success based on the texts of Vatican II and not some interpreted spirit. Maybe every Bishop, and Religious Community Leader, should be forced to read the documents and be given a rigorous test on the texts, so to better administer their dioceses, and communties. If they fail the test, immediate remediation to Rome should be required. Just a suggestion.



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