Sunday, October 23, 2011

Petition to Pope Benedict XVI for a more in-depth examination of the Second Vatican Council

In case you missed this, upwards of fifty-seven Catholic leaders have affixed their signatures to a document petitioning the Holy Father for an in-depth study and clarifications regarding the Second Vatican Council. The original post, in Italian, is at Riscossa cristiana (dated September 24, 2001, but with a list of signatories last updated October 20, 2011). An English translation of the document may be found at Documentation Information Catholiques Internationales (October 14, 2011), but with only a partial list of signatories.

The petition begins by rehearsing the recent history of such petitions to the Holy Father, beginning with Msgr. Brunero Gherardini, a canon of St. Peter's Basilica and well-known professor of Ecclesiology at the Pontifical Lateran University and dean of Italian theologians, who wrote to Pope Benedict in 2009:
“For the good of the Church—and more especially to bring about the salvation of souls, which is her first and highest law (cf. the 1983 CIC, canon 1752)—after decades of liberal exegetical, theological, historiographical and “pastoral” creativity in the name of the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council, it seemed urgent to me that some clarity be created by answering authoritatively the question about the continuity of this council with the other councils (this time not simply by declaring it so but by proposing a genuine demonstration), the question about its fidelity to the Tradition of the Church.” ...
Somewhat later, the document mentions the recent, well-documented History of Vatican II by Professor de Mattei (pictured right), whose study offers a precise, realistic analysis of "the tormented, dramatic unfolding of that Council," which he concludes with the words:
“At the end of this volume, allow me to address reverently His Holiness Benedict XVI, whom I acknowledge to be the successor of Peter to whom I feel inseparably bound, expressing my deep thanks to him for having opened the doors to a serious debate about the Second Vatican Council. I repeat that I wanted to make a contribution to this debate, not as a theologian, but as an historian, joining however in the petition of those theologians who are respectfully and filially asking the Vicar of Christ on earth to promote an in-depth examination of Vatican II, in all its complexity and its full extent, to verify its continuity with the twenty preceding councils and to dispel the shadows and doubts which for almost a half a century have caused the Church to suffer, with the certainty that the gates of hell will never prevail against Her (Mt 16:18).”
And there is much, much more; well-worth the reading. This strikes me as a very significant development indeed. Read more>>

[Hat tip to J.M.]

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting these links. This is a nice summary of the calls for a review of the Second Vatican Council that we've been hearing intermittently from various sources in Rome and elsewhere, such as the talk by Bishop Athanasius Schneider.

Catholic Mission said...

Thursday, October 27, 2011
DAPHNE MCLEOD COMMENT A BOMBSHELL FOR ENGLISH BISHOPS?
The Church teaches after Vatican Council II that all the non Catholic participants at Assisi today are oriented to Hell and there are no exceptions.


Daphne McLeod is not playing the Lumen Gentium 16 game and the bishops should have noticed it. Her comments are on the internet and English bloggers could be picking it up by now.


She has united the Catholic traditionalist movement and pointed to a major cause of dissent and confusion in the Catholic Church.


She has brought the explicitly-implicit baptism of desire non-sense out in the open and to the attention of Catholics. She has not repeated the meaningless mantra ‘except for those in invincible ignorance and the baptism of desire’. She has not fallen for the LG 16 ruse of the liberals.


We cannot meet anyone on the street saved with the baptism of desire, in invincible ignorance, a good conscience, ‘who has not had the Gospel preached to him through no fault of his own’, saved in partial as compared to full communion with the Church. It is only God who can judge who ‘knows’ about the Church and yet does not enter and who is in invincible ignorance. The dogma outside the Church there is no salvation and Vatican Council II (LG 14,AG 7) tell us that everyone needs to convert into the Catholic Church; to enter with Catholic Faith and the Baptism of water. The exceptions do not make the rule. The exceptions are not the ordinary means of salvation. The ordinary means of salvation is Catholic Faith and the baptism of water (Redemptoris Missio 55, Lumen Gentium 14, Ad Gentes 7).Most important, the exceptions are only hypothetical, they are not de facto exceptions to the dogma.


It’s true that all who are saved are saved through Jesus and the Church and this teaching does not contradict the dogma i.e. it is necessary that everyone enter the Church with no exceptions.


False reasoning assumes we are God and can judge. We reason that billions are oriented to Hell because this is the teaching of the Church. It is only the Catholic Church that has the ‘fullness of the truth’ and is the only moral authority. It is this Church which has been guided by the Holy Spirit to proclaim consistent teachings since the time of Jesus and the Apostles until today. The ‘great religions’ are false paths to salvation.


Jesus called this Church “my church” and said the ‘gates of Hell shall not prevail against it’. Other religions have ‘deficiencies, errors and superstition’ (Dominus Iesus) and the gates of Hell are open for all their members. This includes, those who believe in Jesus and do not do His will by entering in the Catholic Church and remaining in it. -Lionel Andrades


WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2011
NON CATHOLICS CAN BE SAVED IN INVINCIBLE IGNORANCE, BAPTISM OF DESIRE AND IT DOES NOT CONTRADICT THE DOGMA EXTRA ECCLESIAM NULLA SALUS- Daphne McLeod, Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, England
http://eucharistandmission.blogspot.com/2011/10/non-catholics-can-be-saved-in.html

http://eucharistandmission.blogspot.com/2011/10/daphne-mcleod-comment-bombshell-for.html

Catholic Mission said...

Friday, October 21, 2011
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity claims Pope Pius XII condemned the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus :suggests those in invincible ignorance are explicitly known to us and so contradicts the dogma
This is a factual error since the text of Mystici Corporis and Humani generic do not make this claim.


These Magisterial documents mention those who can be saved in invincible ignorance but nowhere claims that it contradicts the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus. Instead Pope Pius XII in the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 mentions ‘the dogma’, ‘the infallible statement’. The text of the dogma indicates that all non Catholics, specifically Orthodox Christians and Protestants, are oriented to the fires of Hell, unless they convert into the Catholic Church.(Cantate Domino,Council of Florence)


In the course of the Council the “subsistit in” took the place of the previous “est”.[7] It contains in nuce the whole ecumenical problem.[8] The “est” claimed that the church of Christ Jesus “is” the Catholic Church. This strict identification of the church of Christ Jesus with the Catholic Church had been represented most recently in the encyclicals Mystici corporis (1943) and Humani generis (1950).[9] But even according to Mystici corporis there are people who, although they have not yet been baptised, are subsumed under the Catholic Church because that is their express desire (DS 3921). Therefore Pius XII had condemned an exclusive interpretation of the axiom “Extra ecclesiam nulla salus” already in 1949.-Pontifical Council For Promoting Christian Unity, Vatican Nov. 11,2004, the Decree on Ecumenism Read Anew After Forty Years.
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/card-kasper-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20041111_kasper-ecumenism_en.html
The Council for Christian Unity, Vatican says:

But even according to Mystici corporis there are people who, although they have not yet been baptised, are subsumed under the Catholic Church because that is their express desire (DS 3921).
Yes they can receive salvation (LG 16) and these cases are known only to God. Since they are not explicitly known to us they do not contradict the dogma or Vatican Council II (LG 14,AG 7).
CONTINUED

Catholic Mission said...

continued

Therefore Pius XII had condemned an exclusive interpretation of the axiom “Extra ecclesiam nulla salus” already in 1949.
A reading of the these documents show there is no text of condemnation. There is no text which condemns Fr.Leonard Feeney for heresy.He was excommunicated for disobedience. Pope Pius XII in referring to the ‘infallible teaching’ supported Fr.Leonard Feeney (Denz.3921 etc).Ut Unum Sint of Pope John Paul II indicates all Christians need to enter the Catholic Church.
-Lionel Andrades


_____________________________________________


Saturday, October 15, 2011
Vatican website for clergy promotes 'theology of religions', Kung and Knitter : claims Fr.Leonard Feeney was excommunicated for the same interpretation of the dogma as the popes and saints
http://eucharistandmission.blogspot.com/2011/10/vatican-webste-for-clergy-promotes.html

http://eucharistandmission.blogspot.com/2011/10/pontifical-council-for-promoting.html

Pertinacious Papist said...

"Catholic Mission":

In the future, please avoid pasting whole articles into comboxes. They're too large and tend to obscure your point. Make your point in your own words and post supporting links.

Thanks, - PP