VATICAN COUNCIL II, RECEPTION PAST AND PRESENT

VATICAN CITY, SEP 26, 2000 (VIS) - At midday today in the Holy See Press Office, the book "Vatican Council II, Reception Past and Present in the Light of the Jubilee," was presented. The volume is published by the Central Committee for the Great Jubilee 2000.

Taking part in the presentation were Cardinal Roger Etchegaray and Archbishop Crescenzio Sepe, respectively president and secretary of the Central Committee for the Great Jubilee 2000, and Bishop Rino Fisichella, vice-president of the Historical-Theological Commission of the Great Jubilee 2000.

Cardinal Etchegaray indicated that "since Vatican Council II, the world has undergone one of the greatest accelerations that history has ever known, and the Church was the first to realize that it is easier to alter structures than it is to change mentalities. Of course, there have been excesses or oversights in the application of conciliar decisions. Nonetheless, it may be supposed that the Church, caught up in the storm of change in the world, would have been in a worse position had she not had the benefit of the Council as a solid and luminous point of reference."

For his part, Archbishop Sepe recalled that this book contains the acts of the congress on the implementation of the measures of Vatican Council II, which was held in the Vatican from February 25 to 27, 2000.

Bishop Fisichella affirmed that "the process of interpreting the Council has not been concluded, nor can it be. Indeed, (such interpretation) is part of a current that goes beyond ecclesial confines because the event is part of history. The Church is, nonetheless, the primary interpreter of the Council; it not only belongs to her, but defines her very historical and ecclesial existence."

With reference to the contents of the book, Bishop Fisichella explained that the first part deals with the themes of the four conciliar constitutions: "Dei verbum," "Sacrosanctum concilium," "Lumen gentium" and "Gaudium et spes," while the second part contains some reflections on the reception and implementation of Vatican Council II by the various Churches.

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