Pope Benedict and Raising the Value of Vatican II - Fr. Peter Stilwell is
the Dean of Theology at the Catholic University in Portugal, and one of the almost
one thousand people from the world of Portuguese Culture who attended the encounter
with Pope Benedict in Lisbon’s Belem Culture Centre Wednesday morning.
He
gave us his reactions to the Holy Father’s speech: “First of all it was very interesting
from the point of view of the reaction of the public, the reacted very warmly several
times they applauded him”.
“His talk was a challenge to the Portuguese
people, a reminder of the need for wisdom to guide dialogue between peoples, and that
the Church is learning, its learning to dialogue with others, to speak to them of
‘their truths’ and ‘our truths’”.
Fr Stilwell also said he was particularly
struck by Pope Benedict’s reference to Vatican II and how it “transformed and overcame
the critiques that gave rise to the modern world”:
“The Pope makes
a reference to the Second Vatican Council and says that it produced a new synthesis
of what was the essence of the criticism of the Reformation and Enlightenment and
this is a form of answering the modern world and its questions. That seems to me
particularly interesting, its raising the value of Vatican II as assumed by his own
Magisterium; an announcement to the modern world”.