The pontifical universities in Rome have been scheduling various conferences to discuss specific aspects of Vatican II on the 50th anniversary year of its opening, in the context of Benedict XVI's 'hermeneutic of renewal in continuity with tradition". Here is a final communique summarizing the International Congress on Vatican-II and the New Evangelization held May 3-4 at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce.
The Second Vatican Council:
A new reading of the Christian faith
Translated from the Italian service of
ROME, May 4 (ZENIT.org) - The most incisive novelty of Vatican II was its "new reading of the Catholic faith, in order to refresh inter-relationships and give adequate proportion to all elements of Tradition after centuries of unilateral emphases".
Thus said Prof. Jose Ramon Villar of the University of Navarra (Spain), in his intervention at the International Congress on the theme, "The Second VaticanCouncil: The permanent value of reform for the new evangelization", which took place in Rome May 3-4 under the auspices of the Faculty of Theology of the Pontifical University of Santa Croce.
"Doctrinal novelties are always relative because, in some way, they must be contained within the Tradition of the Church," the Spanish scholar added. In the case of Vatican-II,
"these (novelties) were not the apparition of something that had never said before, nor of any novelty unknown in teh Catholic tradition".
Rather, "as a rule, the novelty is always an internal development within Tradition itself, of aspects which for various circumstances, are better understood at a certain historical moment".
At this international congress, which was also sponsored by the Archbishop of Munich-Freising, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, about a hundred ecclesial experts and scholars from various universities around the world took part, offering a reading of Vatican-II according to "the hermeneutic of reform, of renewal in continuity of the single subject, the Church" that Benedict XVI underscored in his famous Christmas address to the Roman Curia in 2005, the first year of his Pontificate.
One section of the lectures was devoted to a strictly theological-historical perspective of the Council, while the rest were dedicated to an examination in depth of each of the 16 documents approved by the Council. They offered an overview of the drafting process that each text underwent, and the subsequent reception of each document after the Council.
This event is one of many initiatives undertaken in Rome in preparation for the 50th aniversary of the Vatican-II opening, the Yeqar of Faith proclaimed by the Holy Father, and the Synodal Assembly on the New Evangelization in October.
For Prof. Miguel de Salis, of the Unviersity of Santa Croce itself, the Council did not represent a kind of 'constituent assembly' but rather,
"a manifestation of the Church which assembled its bishops to reflect on her historical journey thus far and on the renewal that was necessary in order to make her announcement more suitable to the needs of the times".
"In Catholic theology, reform and
aggiornamento (keeping up to date) have meant, above all, looking into the question of personal conversion which can bring man more or less closer to God".
De Salis then underscored that "reform is always an act of faith, hope and charity, within which there is always the possibility of recognizing the errors of the Church, thus leading to her purification".
Reflecting on the constitution
Sacrosanctum concilium and the consequent liturgical reform, a German professor of liturgy, Helmut Hoping (University of Freiburg im Bresgau), spoke of 'the renewal of liturgical practice' and the need for 'liturgical and mistagogical formation' for purposes of the New Evangelization.
Hoping pointed out how then-Cardinal Ratzinger had advocated 'a reform of the reform' in view of the danger of a 'superficial horizontalism in liturgy'.
In this respect, he said,
Benedict XVI's recent magisterial interventions on liturgy do not represent "a retreat from the new nor a return to the old" but an expression of the need to "return to adoration, since liturgy is a sacred event".
Co mmenting on the declaration
Nostra aetate, Mons. David Jaeger, OFM, of the Pontifical Antonianum University, clarified "its general obejective, which serves to exclude any relativistic reading of it".
In fact, he said,
"relating to the non-Christian religions is not aimed towards making new discoveries about the truth or about the will of God, but rather, the Church has undertaken it in the context of her duty to promote unity and charity among men and among peoples".
Among the more evidents fruits of the Council is, withpout a doubt, "tyhe birth of new spiritual movements" and "a new flowering of entities that had been established long before" (religious orders and congregations) who have been "confirmed in their spirituality to help sanctify the world".
This was the opinion of Prof. Manfred Speier, of the Unviersity of Osnabruck (Austria), who offered an analysis of the pastoral constitution
Gaudium et spes.
These new ecclesial entities, he said, "in their reception of Vatican II, have been oriented and are oriented to the hermeneutic of reform", united in "a joyous faith, in loyalty to the Church and the Magisterim of the Popes, as well as to the commitment assumed at baptism for lay apostolate work and witnessing to the faith in society".
Prof. Spieker concluded that they are also united in the conviction that
"the Church does not need reformers but sains" and that "the Council was a gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church, a Pentecostal event that encourages laymen to live in the world and reinforces their ability to account to everyone for the faith and hope, of which they are bearers".
Prof. José Maria La Porte, dean of the Faculity of Comunications at Santa Croce, presented a panoramic view of the communications practices adopted during and after Vatican-II, by showing "some attitudes in the communications media" during the preparatory phase of the Council, the discussions on various topics within the Council and outside it, and the subsequent dissemination of the documents approved by the Council.
Specifically, he compared the perspective of ecclesial specialists and that which started to develop among journalists covering the event:
"The media seemed to have decisively conditioned the subsequent dissemination and reception of the Council documents".[
What an understatement!]
Commenting on the declaration
Dignitatis Humanae, Prof. Gerardo del Pozo, from the University of San Damaso in Madrid, explained how the document has helped "to better understand the novelty of the separation between politics and the faith taught by Jesus".
In fact, he said, "without looking to the Cross and the Resurrfection as the source in which the Church was born, she cannot understand the ultimate meaning of her own freedom, of Christian freedom and of religious freedom".
"It is not when she examines herself as an institution but when she continually seeks Christ that the Church can dialog with the entire world and therefore serve it in a truly Christian way", he concluded.
According to Prof. Johannes Grohe, dean of Church History at Santa Croce, Vatican II "is, and should remain. for the Catholic Church an expression of the solemn and supreme Magisterium of our time, and it should therefore have the corresonding importance in the ecumenical
dialog".
Moreover, he said,
"the Vatican II texts must be accepted in the same way that the texts of the preceding ecum enicla councils of the Church have been accepted".
Finally, he pointed out, "a professiona fidei - profession of faith - that embraces the conciliar traditions from Nicaea to Vatican-II will show how the teachings of the latter fit into the long and fruitful history of the Church Magisterium".
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 06/05/2012 14:17]