I’ve already said I’d be more inclined to believe it if it was found in Guitton’s own book.
That said, I find it quite funny that you extoll Guitton’s friendship and yet appear to be ignoring his “positive spin” on the statement. If he was so close, wouldn’t his perception be correct?
Anyways, yes, I have suspicions about this quote. It seems like such a quote would have been used a lot more.
No matter. It has little bearing on the conversation.
I found someone on AQ had transcribed the section. This is how it reads.
Page 57 & 58
Could it be that John XXIII and Paul VI were, like so many progressivist leaders, followers of a doctrine that preached the self immolation of the Church as a goal to be attained through the specific action of the Popes themselves?
It is a hypothesis whose elements, for the time being, are like a thin veil. However, like a fine covering, it can begin to be drawn away to reveal the real meaning of the enigmatic words of the Pontiffs, permitting a glimpse of an interpretation.
E. The Mysterious Relationship Between Vatican II and the Scourging of the Apocalypse
Finally, in an investigation of the intent of Paul VI with regard to the self destruction of the Church, one should note his words to writer Jean Guitton regarding the Council’s solemn closing ceremony. They are words also wrapped in an impenetrable mystery, but certainly not devoid of interest.
“It was the final session of the Council,” Guitton wrote, “the most essential, in which the Pope was to bestow upon all humanity the teachings of the Council. He announced this to me on that day with these words, 'I am about to blow the seven trumpets of the Apocalypse.” 21
But the seven trumpets of the Apocalypse herald great calamities for humanity, culminating in the end of the world (Apoc 8 9, 11:14 19). 22
Why would Paul VI have chosen such a tragic symbol to mark the legacy of Vatican II? Did he have a clear notion then of the process of self destruction that would be installed afterward in the Holy City?
Did he understand its immensity, such that he compared it to the chastisement foretold in Holy Scriptures?
Or was the mention of the trumpets of the Apocalypse a naive or unfortunate metaphor used by the Pontiff who failed to realize the final consequences that could be drawn from these words?
§ 19 Putting aside here the mysteries and considerations surrounding the hypothesis of a voluntary immolation of the Church and the Papacy, the main conclusion of this Item is clear: the self destruction of the Church was foreseen by Pius XII, initiated by John XXIII, and continued by Paul VI. Furthermore, Paul VI deliberately decided to make its existence public and notorious.
Footnotes
For more information on the progressivist doctrine of kenosis, see Chapter 11.
21 Jean Guitton, “Nei segno dei Dodici,” interview by Maurizio Blond Avvenire, October 11, 1992.
22 Soon after revealing this quote of Paul VI, Jean Guitton tried to temper its tragic aspect, He said, “The Apocalypse is a book filled with enigmas, but the final pages speak of the triumph of the Lamb of God. They speak of the triumph of the Church” (ibid.).
However, the French writer forgot that the trumpets do not appear in the “final pages” but in the middle of the Apocalypse. And even though the seventh and last trumpet refers to the end of the world and, in this sense, heralds the final judgment and the triumph of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the trumpets as a whole refer to the chastisements upon the earth inflicted by God on humanity. That is, the first four trumpets as a whole relate to the chastisements upon the earth, the oceans, the rivers and the heavenly bodies (Apoc 8 7 13); the fifth trumpet predicts the plague of grasshoppers (Apoc 91 13); the sixth prophesies an invasion of an army on horseback (Apoc 913 20); the seventh announces the end of the world, accompanied by lightning, earthquakes and great hailstorms (Apoc 11:19).
Where have you been lately?!