Vatican
City, 15 February 2013
(VIS) – Following are ample extracts from the Holy Father's warm
and friendly chat yesterday with the clergy of Rome, which was held
in the Paul VI Hall.
"We
went to the Council not just with joy, but enthusiastically. There
was an incredible expectation. We hoped that everything would be
renewed, that a new Pentecost, a new era in the Church, had truly
arrived, … rediscovering the bond between the Church and the
world’s best elements, to open humanity's future, to begin real
progress. We began to get to know one another ... and it was an
experience of the Church's universality and of the Church's concrete
reality, which wasn't limited to receiving orders from on high but of
growing and advancing together, under the direction of the Successor
of Peter naturally." The questions put to the Council Fathers
dealt with "the reform of the liturgy, ... ecclesiology, ... the
Word of God, Revelation, … and, finally, ecumenism."
"In
retrospect, I think that it was very good to begin with the liturgy,
showing God's primacy, the primacy of adoration. … The Council
spoke of God and this was its first act: speaking of God and opening
everything to the people, opening the adoration of God to the entire
holy people, in the common celebration of the liturgy of the Body and
Blood of Christ. … The principles came later: comprehensibility, so
as not to be locked in an unknown and unspoken language, and active
participation. Unfortunately, sometimes these principles are
misunderstood. Comprehensibility does not mean triviality because the
great texts of the liturgy―even when they are, thanks be to God, in
one's mother tongue―are not easily understandable. Ongoing
formation is necessary for Christians to grow and enter more deeply
into the mystery so they might understand."
"The
second theme: the Church. … We wanted to say and to understand that
the Church is not an organization, not just some structural, legal,
or institutional thing―which it also is―but an organism, a living
reality that enters into my soul and that I myself, with my very
soul, as a believer, am a constitutive element of the Church as such.
… The Church isn't a structure. We ourselves, Christians together,
we are the living Body of the Church. Of course, this is true in the
sense that we, the true 'we' of believers, together with the 'I' of
Christ, are the Church; each one of us is not 'a we' but a group that
calls itself Church."
"The
first idea was to present the ecclesiology in a theological format,
but continuing structurally, that is to say, alongside the succession
of Peter, in its unique role, to better define the role of bishops
and the episcopal body. In order to do this we found that the word
'collegiality' was very intensely debated, somewhat exaggeratedly I
would say. But it was the word … to express that the bishops,
together, are the continuation of the Twelve, of the group of
Apostles. We said: only one bishop, the bishop of Rome, is the
successor of the particular apostle, Peter … Thus the group of
Bishops, the College, is the continuation of the Twelve and has its
needs, its role, its rights, and its duties."
"Another
question in the ecclesiastical sphere was the definition of the
concept of the 'people of God', which implies the continuity of the
Testaments, the continuity of the history of God with the world, with
humanity, and also implies the 'Christological element'. Only through
Christology are we converted into the People of God and thus two
concepts are united. The council decided to create a Trinitarian
structure to the ecclesiology: the People of God the Father, the Body
of Christ, and the Temple of the Holy Spirit. … The link between
the People of God and the Body of Christ is, effectively, communion
with Christ in the Eucharistic union. Thus we become the Body of
Christ, that is, the relationship between the People of God and the
Body of Christ creates a new reality: communion."
"On
the question regarding Revelation, the fulcrum was the relationship
between Scripture and Tradition. … Certainly, what is important is
that the Scriptures are the Word of God and the Church is subject to
the Scriptures, obeys the Word of God, and is not above Scripture.
Nevertheless, the Scriptures are only such because there is a living
Church, its living subject. Without the living subject of the Church,
Scripture is only a book open to different interpretations and gives
no definitive clarity." In this sense, "Pope Paul VI's
intervention was decisive," with his proposal of the formula
"nos omnis certitudo de veritatibus fidei potest sumi ex Sacra
Scriptura", that is, "the Church's certainty on the faith
is not only born of an isolated book, but needs the enlightened
subject of the Church, which brings the Holy Spirit. Only thus can
Scripture speak and from this springs all its authority."
"And,
finally, ecumenism. I don't want to go into these problems now, but
it was obvious that―especially after the 'passion' of Christians
during the age of Nazism―that Christians could find unity, or could
at least look for it, but it was also clear that only God can give
unity. And we are still continuing along this path."
"The
second part of the Council was much broader. The theme, arising with
great urgency, was today's world, the modern age and the Church, and
with it issues of the responsibility of the construction of this
world, of society, responsibility for the future of this world and
eschatological hope; Christian ethical responsibility … as well as
religious freedom, progress, and relations with other religions. At
that time, the entire Council, not just the United States, whose
people are very concerned with religious freedom, really joined in
the discussion … Latin America also joined in strongly, knowing the
misery of the people of a Catholic continent and the responsibility
of the faith for the situation of these persons. And thus Africa,
Asia likewise saw the need for interreligious dialogue. … The great
document 'Gaudium et Spes' analysed the problem between Christian
eschatology and worldly progress, including the responsibility of
tomorrow's society and Christian responsibilities in the face of
eternity, and also the renewal of Christian ethics. … The basis for
dialogue is in difference, in diversity, in the faith of the
uniqueness of Christ who is one, and it is not possible for a
believer to think that religions are variations on the same theme.
No. There is a reality of the living God who has spoken and who is
one God, an incarnate God, therefore one word of God who is truly the
Word of God. But there is also a religious experience, with a certain
human light on creation, and therefore it is necessary and possible
to enter into dialogue and so to open oneself to others and to open
all to God peace, all His children, all His family."
"I
would like to add still a third point... the Council of the media. It
was almost a Council itself and the world saw the Council through it.
The 'Council of the journalists', of course was not carried out
within the faith but within the categories of today's media. That is
to say, it was outside of the faith, with a different hermeneutic …
a political hermeneutic. For the media, the Council was a political
struggle, a power struggle between the Church's different strands. …
There was a triple problem: the Pope's power transferred to the power
of the bishops and to the power of all: popular sovereignty. The same
thing happened with the liturgy. They were not interested in the
liturgy as an act of faith but as something where things are made
understandable, a type of communal activity. … These translations,
the trivialization of the idea of the Council were virulent in the
practice of applying liturgical reform; a vision of the Council
outside of its proper interpretation, that of faith, was born."
"We
know that this Council of the media was accessible to all. Thus it
was the dominant one, the most efficient one, and it created a lot of
calamities, problems, and misfortunes. … The true Council found it
difficult to make its thought concrete and actual. The virtual
Council was stronger than the real council. But the Council's
strength was present and, little by little, it became more and more
actual, becoming the true force that is, after true reform, the
Church's true renewal. It seems to me that, after 50 years, we see
how the virtual Council has broken down, been lost, and the authentic
Council appears in all its spiritual strength."
