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“Vatican II Must be Clarified”

 

A history of the Second Vatican Council: The Inside Story of Vatican II: A Firsthand Account of the Council's Inner Workings, by Rev. Fr. Ralph M. Wiltgen, S.V.D.

"Differing from Other Councils…" by Peter W. Miller

Sermon: The True Pentecost

Sermon: The French Revolution and Vatican II

"There will be no infallible definitions. All that was done by former Councils. That is enough." -Pope John XXIII, Gaudet Mater Ecclesia, 11 October 1962

"There are those who ask what authority, what theological qualification, the Council intended to give to its teachings, knowing that it avoided issuing solemn dogmatic definitions backed by the Church's infallible teaching authority. The answer is known by those who remember the conciliar declaration of March 6, 1964, repeated on November 16, 1964. In view of the pastoral nature of the Council, it avoided proclaiming in an extraordinary manner any dogmas carrying the mark of infallibility."  -Pope Paul VI, Weekly General Audience, 12 January 1966

"Differing from other Councils, this one was not directly dogmatic, but disciplinary and pastoral." -Pope Paul VI, General Audience, 6 August 1975

"The Second Vatican Council solemnly declared in its Constitution on the Church that all the teachings of the Council are in full continuity with the teachings of former councils. Moreover, let us not forget that the canons of the Council of Trent and of Vatican I are de fide, whereas none of the decrees of Vatican II are de fide;The Second Vatican Council was pastoral in nature. Cardinal Felici rightly stated that the Credo solemnly proclaimed by Pope Paul VI at the end of the Year of Faith is from a dogmatic point of view much more important than the entire Second Vatican Council. Thus, those who want to interpret certain passages in the documents of Vatican II as if they implicitly contradicted definitions of Vatican I or the Council of Trent should realize that even if their interpretation were right, the canons of the former councils would overrule these allegedly contradictory passages of Vatican II, because the former are de fide, the latter not." -Dietrich Von Hildebrand

"Dietrich von Hildebrand is the 20th century Doctor of the Church." -Venerable Pope Pius XII

“When the intellectual history of the Catholic Church in the twentieth century is written the name of Dietrich Von Hildebrand will be most prominent among the figures of our time.” –Pope Benedict XVI

"Certainly the results of Vatican II seem cruelly opposed to the expectations of everyone, beginning with those of Pope John XXIII and then of Pope Paul VI: expected was a new Catholic unity and instead we have been exposed to dissension which, to use the words of Pope Paul VI, seems to have gone from self-criticism to self-destruction. Expected was a new enthusiasm, and many wound up discouraged and bored. Expected was a great step forward, instead we find ourselves faced with a progressive process of decadence which has developed for the most part under the sign of a calling back to the Council, and has therefore contributed to discrediting it for many. The net result therefore seems negative. I am repeating here what I said ten years after the conclusion of the work: it is incontrovertible that this period has definitely been unfavorable for the Catholic Church."  -Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Now Pope Benedict XVI), L'Osservatore Romano, 24 December 1984

"The Second Vatican Council has not been treated as a part of the entire living Tradition of the Church, but as an end of Tradition, a new start from zero. The truth is that this particular Council defined no dogma at all, and deliberately chose to remain on a modest level, as a merely pastoral council; and yet many treat it as though it had made itself into a sort of superdogma which takes away the importance of all the rest."  -Cardinal Ratzinger (Now Pope Benedict XVI), address to the Chilean Bishops, 13 July 1988, Santiago Chile

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