Vatican II: in the light of the archives of the Council Fathers

(Vatican Radio) " The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council in the light of the archives of the Council Fathers'', that's the title of a three day International Conference taking place in the Vatican as from the 3rd of October, a week away from the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the first session of that Council which marked a momentous epoch in the history of the Catholic Church .

A Conference sponsored by the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences as well as by the "Centre for Study and Research on Vatican II at the Pontifical University of Saint John Lateran.

One which bearing in mind the teaching of Pope Benedict XVI aims to launch a wide ranging enquiry in an effort to explore the archives regarding the Council in each and every continent with a historical - scientific approach rather than an ideological one.

Not by examining the more well known and published works regarding documents but by doing so through more private material: from the personal archives of the Church Fathers, to those of the 'periti' or theologians involved, to more local archives among which those in what was considered at the time mission territory.

Present at a press conference in the Holy See's Press Office on Tuesday morning to introduce this two day encounter was the President of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, Father Bernard Ardura who announced a permanent on-line database of the archives of the Council Fathers soon to be made available to scholars and to the public at large, free of charge, with the intent of encouraging further research.

While for his part the Director of the "Centre for Study and Research of Vatican II" at the Pontifical Lateran University, Professor Philippe Chenaux highlighted during this same press conference the two different readings of the Council, one as an event and the other as a break with the past .

The latter promoted by the "Bologna School" is not that, the Professor pointed out, indicated by the Magisterium of the Church under the pontificates of first John Paul II and then Benedict XVI.

The name of the game Professor Chenaux went on to illustrate is: " for historians of the Council to reconcile these two readings...not to write a counter-history but rather, more modestly to pick up on this historical enquiry on the basis of the widest ranging documentation possible without entering into any prior ideology ...so as to reach a more balanced and shared understanding of the event and the decisions taken..."

"Starting anew from the archives of the Council ", concluded Professor Chenaux, " that's the challenge that lies ahead ".

That's fifty years on from that first session of the Second Vatican Council called for by John XXIII and inherited by Paul VI.
I'm Veronica Scarisbrick

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