Card. Gracias speaks about treasures of Vatican II

February 04, 2013 - Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay on Sunday brought the curtain down on an international conference in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, that focussed on the 50 years of the Second Vatican Council. More than 300 experts and bishops from around the world, met at the "Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram" (DVK) Pontifical University, January 31 – February 3, to discuss the theme, "Revisiting Vatican II: 50 years of renewal". In his concluding speech on Sunday, Cardinal Gracias, who is president of both the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) as well as of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), called on the Church leaders in Asia to dig deeper into the ‘golden treasures’ of the Second Vatican Council, which 'have lost nothing of their value or brilliance'. In a lengthy speech he traced the reforms and changes brought about in the Catholic Church in the modern world by the great ecumenical council. He lamented that many Catholics do not know what the Catholic Church actually teaches. Many Catholics are only Sunday Catholics, and their faith has little or no relevance to their lives. This has led to what the fathers of the Second Vatican Council warned of - the "greatest error of our age, the separation between faith and life." This is why, he said, Pope Benedict XVI convoked the current Year of Faith to help us appreciate the gift of faith, to deepen our relationship with God and to strengthen our commitment to sharing our faith with others.