Those Who Dream of a Third Vatican Council

The modernist heretics scent victory! Yesterday, Francis handed them one of their demands, moving the Church closer to destruction, using the 'synodal' template of the dying Anglican Communion.

I've highlighted the aims of the destroyers in the article below, and note well the names of the shining examples of anti-Catholic heresy that attended that 'Concilium' conference over 40 years ago.

From La Stampa

Former Franciscan Leonardo Boff has asked for another Council to be held. But many have been hoping for a new ecumenical Council since 1977

The former Franciscan Friar, Leonardo Boff, the leading representative of the Liberation Theology movement – or what remains of it – is simply the latest in the list of individuals who have asked for a Third Vatican Council to be held. He made this request in an article published in Brazilian daily, Jornal do Brasil, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of John XXIII’s death: “The categories set out in the Second Vatican Council no longer adequately represent today’s reality.”

According to Boff, there needs to be a new Council that represents all Christianity and it should “identify the ways in which we can work together to create new awareness regarding respect, worship and care for all ecosystems.”

Interestingly, people have been pondering on a Vatican III for 36 whole years. The idea sprang up for the first time in the summer of 1977, at a meeting of theologians from Concilium magazine held at the University of Notre Dame in the U.S. Swiss theologian Hans Küng, the Dutchman Edward Schillebeeckx and Italian theologians Giuseppe Alberigo and Rosino Gibellini were among those present. The meeting between theologians and Liberation theologians set the goals for the future Council: that a Pope would resign at the age of 75; that the Synod of Bishops would no longer act as an advisory but a deliberative body; that priestly celibacy would be abolished and that women would enjoy equality in Church life, including the right to be ordained priests.

But it would be wrong to assume that the proposal is only made now and again by liberals who are intent on speeding up reforms. Surprisingly, in the early 90s, some conservative circles faithful to Wojtyla threw the idea on the table. The English historian Paul Johnson suggested a new Council should be held, in an article published by American monthly, Catholic World Report. Italian philosopher, Rocco Buttiglione, a friend and collaborator of John Paul II echoed this idea in an interview in which he mentioned the preparation of “material for another great Council.” Another figure who was keen on the idea was ultra-conservative Austrian bishop, Kurt Krenn. In terms of the aims of a potential Third Vatican Council, the dream nurtured by Wojtyla’s most orthodox supporters was the complete opposite to that described by Küng in 1977.

The intention was to hold a restorative council that put liberals and rebels back in line and stop the attempts being made by some Episcopal Conferences to gain further poker. Basically, advocates of Vatican III believed that despite John Paul II’s attempt to introduce change, the Catholic Church was still going through a phase of laxity and doctrinal chaos. But the aspirations of conservative Conciliarists were met with a cool response from the Vatican. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger branded the idea as “completely premature”.

The then Prefect of the former Holy Office and Pope-to-be, dashed all expectations in an interview given in 1992: “I don’t think it’s the right time. It would be completely premature to hold a Third Vatican Council because it is always a big commitment which puts normal daily Church life on hold for a while. And this cannot happen too often. When St. Basil was invited to take part in another Council of Constantinople, he said: “No I won’t go to another one, because all these Councils do is create confusion.”

Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini (August 31st will mark a year since his death) mentioned it again at a Synod in 1999, this time from a reformist point of view. The Archbishop of Milan presented his request as a “dream”, saying he hoped “bishops could come together and hold a broad discussion that will help resolve” some doctrinal and disciplinary issues in the Church. Martini asked for “a more collegial, all-encompassing and authoritative instrument” that would involve “all bishops”. He hoped that “that sense of communion and collegiality experienced by their predecessors in Vatican II” could be repeated.

An opportunity to deal with issues such as the lack of priests, the position of women in the Church, the ministries, sexuality, the discipline of marriage, penitence and ecumenical relations, with complete freedom. Martini’s suggestion did not materialise, partly because a year prior to this, when the Consistory was held in February 1998, John Paul II had said that “the midsummer of Vatican II is yet to come.”

Cardinal Martini’s proposal came six years before Benedict XVI was elected Pope and before his speech to the Roman Curia in December 2005, when the new Pope said that the correct interpretation of Vatican II is “reform through continuity” and not “division”. Benedict XVI criticised liberal interpretations which claimed certain things were said during the Council when these were not in fact said. But he also hoped to soften the Lefebvrians’ reading of the Council in view of a reconciliation with the Society of St. Pius X.

But the debate which followed ended up accentuating divisions. And so today, Boff’s proposal of a Third Vatican Council to go beyond what was outlined during Vatican II clashes with groups that claim the Second Vatican Council is incompatible with Catholic tradition. Meanwhile, announcements, controversies and vetoes aside, there are still documents presented at Vatican II – here it is worth remembering that the documents produced during the Council received almost unanimous approval – that have not yet been officially implemented. An example is the Apostolicam actuositatem decree on the role of the laity. This remains a thorny issue in a time of revived clericalism. And Pope Francis sees clericalism as a one of the major problems of the Church today.