Benedict xvi: Joy of the council

[Thomas_Casey]

Please stay on topic.

Thanks

 

[Dee_S]

Here again, we go back to the Holy Father’s thoughts on the Council. We have to assent to the Council of the Fathers as he calls it, not to the council of the media, which is a different way of saying the Council of Opinions. Everyone has one of those. However, those opinions are not binding on any Catholic. The opinions of the Council are binding, because they come from lawful authority. That’s where he’s coming from.

The Holy Father is trying to help his audience discriminate between lawful authority and unlawful authority. A person or group that expresses an opinion which they do not have the right to express is an unlawful authority.** Anyone can have an opinion, but no one can state his opinion as authoritative, unless it’s consistent with that of the Pope and bishops. Even the Doctors of the Church were very careful here. **

(my bold)


In Pope Benedict XVI reflections on Vatican II council in his Christmas message in 2005, he gives as description by St Basil that is hard for us to wrap our minds around. When I think of leaders in the early Church, I imagine quiet holy men with long beards and solemn faces

"The last event of this year on which I wish to reflect here is the celebration of the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council 40 years ago. This memory prompts the question: What has been the result of the Council? Was it well received? What, in the acceptance of the Council, was good and what was inadequate or mistaken? What still remains to be done?

No one can deny that in vast areas of the Church the implementation of the Council has been somewhat difficult, even without wishing to apply to what occurred in these years the description that St Basil, the great Doctor of the Church, made of the Church’s situation after the Council of Nicea: he compares her situation to a naval battle in the darkness of the storm, saying among other things: ** “The raucous shouting of those who through disagreement rise up against one another, the incomprehensible chatter, the confused din of uninterrupted clamouring, has now filled almost the whole of the Church, falsifying through excess or failure the right doctrine of the faith…” **( *De Spiritu Sancto, *XXX, 77; *PG *32, 213 A; SCh 17 ff., p. 524).

We do not want to apply precisely this dramatic description to the situation of the post-conciliar period, yet something from all that occurred is nevertheless reflected in it. The question arises: Why has the implementation of the Council, in large parts of the Church, thus far been so difficult?

Well, it all depends on the correct interpretation of the Council or - as we would say today - on its proper hermeneutics, the correct key to its interpretation and application. The problems in its implementation arose from the fact that two contrary hermeneutics came face to face and quarrelled with each other. One caused confusion, the other, silently but more and more visibly, bore and is bearing fruit."
vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2005/december/documents/hf_ben_xvi_spe_20051222_roman-curia_en.html