Pope to Rome’s priests: The Second Vatican Council, as I saw it
February 14, 2013: Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday met parish priests and clergy of
the Diocese of Rome in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican. Led by Cardinal Vicar Agostino
Vallini and auxiliary bishops, they greeted Benedict XVI with great affection and
prolonged applause.
"It is a special and providential gift - began the Pope
- that, before leaving the Petrine ministry, I can once again meet my clergy, the
clergy of Rome. It’s always a great joy to see how the Church lives, and how in Rome,
the Church is alive: there are pastors who in the spirit of the supreme Shepherd guide
the flock of Christ". "It is a truly Catholic and universal clergy, - he added - and
is part of the essence of the Church of Rome itself, to reflect the universality,
the catholicity of all nations, of all races, of all cultures”.
“At the same
time I am very grateful to the Cardinal Vicar who is helping to reawaken, to rediscover
the vocations in Rome itself, because if on the one hand Rome is the city of universality,
it must be also a city with its own strong, robust faith, from which vocations are
also born. And I am convinced that with the help of the Lord we can find the vocations
He Himself gifts us, guide them, help them to develop and thus help the work in the
vineyard of the Lord. "
"Today - continued the Pope - you have confessed the
Creed before the Tomb of St. Peter: in the Year of the Faith, I see this as a very
appropriate, perhaps even necessary, act, that the clergy of Rome meet at the Tomb
of the Apostle of which the Lord said, 'to you I entrust my Church. Upon you I build
my Church’. Before the Lord, together with Peter, you have confessed: 'you are Christ,
the Son of the living God.' Thus the Church grows: together with Peter, confessing
Christ, following Christ. And we do this always. I am very grateful for your prayers
that I have felt - as I said Wednesday - almost physically. Though I am now retiring
to a life of prayer, I will always be close to all you and I am sure all of you will
be close to me, even though I remain hidden to the world. "
"For today, given
the conditions of my age - he said - I could not prepare a great, real address, as
one might expect, but rather I thought of chatting about the Second Vatican Council,
as I saw it".
The Pope began with an anecdote: "In 1959 I was appointed professor
at the University of Bonn, which is attended by students, seminarians of the diocese
of Cologne and other surrounding dioceses. So, I came into contact with the Cardinal
of Cologne, Cardinal Frings. Cardinal Siri of Genoa, - I think it was in 1961 - had
organized a series of conferences with several cardinals in Europe, and the Council
had invited the archbishop of Cologne to hold a conference, entitled: "The Council
and the world of modern thought." The Cardinal invited me - the youngest of the professors
- to write a project; he liked the project and proposed this text, as I had written
it to the public, in Genoa".
"Shortly after - he continued - Pope John invited
him to come [to Rome –ed] and he was afraid he had perhaps said maybe something incorrect,
false and that he had been asked to come for a reprimand, perhaps even to deprive
him of his red hat ... (priests laughing) Yes ... when his secretary dressed him for
the audience, he said: 'Perhaps now I will be wearing this stuff for the last time...
(the priests laugh). Then he went in. Pope John came towards him and hugged him, saying,
'Thank you, Your Eminence, you said things I have wanted to say, but I had not found
the words to say' ... (the priests laugh, applaud) Thus, the Cardinal knew he was
on the right track, and I was invited to accompany him to the Council, first as his
personal advisor, then - in the first period, perhaps in November '62 – I was also
appointed as an official perito [expert-ed] for the Council”.
Benedict
XVI continued: "So, we went to the Council not only with joy, but with enthusiasm.
The expectation was incredible. We hoped that everything would be renewed, that a
new Pentecost really would come, a new era of the Church, because the Church was not
robust enough at that time: the Sunday practice was still good, even vocations to
the priesthood and religious life were already somewhat fewer, but still sufficient.
But nevertheless, there was the feeling that the Church was going on, but getting
smaller, that somehow it seemed like a reality of the past and not the bearer of the
future. And now, we hoped that this relationship would be renewed, changed, that the
Church would once again source of strength for today and tomorrow. "
The Pope
then recalled how they saw "that the relationship between the Church and the modern
period was one of some ‘contrasts’ from the beginning, starting with the error in
the Galileo case, "and the idea was to correct this wrong start "and to find a new
relationship between the Church and the best forces in the world, "to open up the
future of humanity, to open up to real progress."
The Pope recalled: "We were
full of hope, enthusiasm and also of good will." "I remember - he said - the Roman
Synod was considered as a negative model" - where - it is said - they read prepared
texts, and the members of the Synod simply approved them, and that was how the Synod
was held. The bishops agreed not to do so because they themselves were the subject
of the Council. So - he continued - even Cardinal Frings, who was famous for his absolute,
almost meticulous, fidelity to the Holy Father said that the Pope has summoned the
bishops in an ecumenical council as a subject to renew the Church.
Benedict
XVI recalled that "the first time this attitude became clear, was immediately on the
first day." On the first day, the Commissions were to be elected and the lists and
nominations were impartially prepared. And these lists were to be voted on. But soon
the Fathers said, "No, are not simply going to vote on already made lists. We are
the subject. "They had to move the elections - he added - because the Fathers themselves
wanted to get to know each other a little ', they wanted to make their own lists.
So it was done. "It was a revolutionary act - he said - but an act of conscience,
of responsibility on the part of the Council Fathers."
So - the Pope said
- a strong activity of mutual understanding began. And this - he said - was customary
for the entire period of the Council: "small transversal meetings." In this way he
became familiar with the great figures like Father de Lubac, Danielou, Congar, and
so on. And this – he said "was an experience of the universality of the Church and
of the reality of the Church, that does not merely receive imperatives from above,
but grows and advances together, under the leadership - of course – of the Successor
of Peter" .