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December 30, 2005

Second Vatican Council

Pope Benedict XVI addressed this issue a number of days ago, but I find it important to note. He basically pointed out that there are two interpretations of the Council, one of discontinuity (those that the liberals and ultra conservatives hold) and one of continuity (which is where the true spirit of reform is found). The first see the Council as a break with the past, and the start of a new Church, whereas the second see the Council as remaining faithful to the past.

Obviously I will be on the side of continuity, and this is the side that Pope Benedict is on. The side that views the Council as a new fresh start is self destructing and is the side that is often times most visible. As the Pope points out, the media and liberal theologians love it; whereas the other side is silently making good progress and growing.

In my opinion, Vatican II represents a time when the Church stopped trying to hide from the modern world and condemn it for all its errors. Yes it does have its errors, do not get me wrong, but the Church preferred before to condemn them and that was that. At Vatican II, however, the Church decided to confront the problems of the Modern World face to face. The Church realized that in order to help correct the errors of Kant, Hume, and modern science that it had to step forward and offer its opinion. It had to be willing to come down to those thoughts and show them the way. In my humble opinion, this was something which the Vatican Council aimed at doing and did it.

Pope Benedict's speech to the Curia is a very good; you can find the section on Vatican II here:

http://www.chiesa.espressonline.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=44072&eng=y

Posted by cr3do1 at December 30, 2005 01:10 PM

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