SUMMARY:
-
CONCILIAR DOCUMENTS: A COMPASS TO GUIDE THE SHIP OF THE CHURCH
-
OSSERVATORE ROMANO PRODUCES SPECIAL BOOKLET FOR FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY
OF VATICAN COUNCIL II
-
AUDIENCES
- OTHER
PONTIFICAL ACTS
______________________________________
CONCILIAR
DOCUMENTS: A COMPASS TO GUIDE THE SHIP OF THE CHURCH
Vatican
City, 10 October 2012 (VIS) - "We have reached the eve of the
day on which we will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Vatican
Council II and the beginning of the Year of Faith", said
Benedict XVI at the start of his catechesis during this morning's
general audience in St. Peter's Square. "And it is about the
great ecclesial event of the Council that I wish to speak", he
explained.
"The
documents of Vatican Council II are, even in our own time, a compass
guiding the ship of the Church as she sails on the open seas, amidst
tempests or peaceful waves, to reach her destination". Vatican
II, in which Pope Benedict participated as a young professor of
fundamental theology at the University of Bonn, was, he said, "a
unique experience" during which "I was able to witness the
living Church ... which places herself at the school of the Holy
Spirit, the true driving force behind the Council. Rarely in history
has it been possible, as it was then, to touch almost physically the
universality of the Church at a moment of peak fulfilment of her
mission to carry the Gospel into all ages and unto the ends of the
earth".
In Church
history Vatican II was preceded by many other Councils such as Nicea,
Ephesus, Chalcedon and Trent. In general though, they met to define
fundamental elements of the faith, and particularly to the correct
errors endangering that faith. This was not the case with Vatican
Council II, because at that time "there were no particular
errors of the faith to correct and condemn, nor were there specific
questions of doctrine and discipline to be clarified. ... The first
question that arose during the preparation of this great event was
how to begin, what task to give it. Blessed John XXIII in his opening
address of 11 October fifty years ago gave some general guidelines:
the faith had to speak with a 'renewed' and more incisive voice,
because the world was changing rapidly, but it had to maintain its
perennial message intact, without giving way or compromising.
"The
Pope", Benedict XVI added, "wanted the Church to reflect
upon her faith and upon the truths that guide her. But that serious
and profound reflection ... had to be the starting point for a new
relationship between the Church and the modern age, between
Christianity and certain essential elements of modern thought, not in
order to seek conformity, but to show our world, which tends to
distance itself from God, the requirements of the Gospel in all its
greatness and purity".
"The
age in which we live continues to be marked by forgetfulness and
deafness towards God. I believe, then, that we must learn the
simplest and most fundamental lesson of the Council: that the essence
of Christianity consists in faith in God, ... and in the individual
and community encounter with Christ Who guides our lives. ... The
important thing today, as was the desire of the Council Fathers, is
for us to see - clearly and anew - that God is present, that He
concerns us and responds to us. And when faith in God is lacking our
essential foundations give way because man loses his dignity. ... The
Council reminds us that the Church ... has the mandate to transmit
God's salvific word of love, so that the divine call which contains
our eternal beatitude may be heard and accepted".
The Pope
then went on to mention the four conciliar Constitutions, describing
them as "the four cardinal points of our guiding compass":
"Sacrosanctum Concilium" on the sacred liturgy, which
speaks of the centrality of the mystery of Christ's presence in the
Church; "Lumen Gentium" which highlights the Church's
fundamental duty to glorify God; "Dei Verbum" on divine
Revelation, which speaks of the living Word of God that unites and
animates the Church throughout history, and finally "Gaudium et
Spes" which deals with the way the Church transmits to the world
the light it received from God.
"Vatican
Council II", Benedict XVI concluded, "is a powerful appeal
to us to make a daily rediscovery of the beauty of our faith, to
understand it deeply through a more intense relationship with the
Lord, and to live out our Christian vocation to the full".
OSSERVATORE
ROMANO PRODUCES SPECIAL BOOKLET FOR FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF VATICAN
COUNCIL II
Vatican
City, 10 October 2012 (VIS) - The "Osservatore Romano"
newspaper has produced a special booklet to mark the fiftieth
anniversary of Vatican Council II
The
booklet will narrate the events of the Council on the basis of
contemporary accounts, previously unpublished material or little
known details, images and photographs of the Popes who guided or
experienced the event, including Joseph Ratzinger who participated as
a young theologian.
Last
summer Benedict XVI wrote an introduction to an edition of his own
conciliar writings, to be published by the German publisher Herder
and edited by Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Muller. That text, which is
embargoed until 5 p.m. today, appears in the Italian, English and
Spanish editions of the special booklet; it will also be published in
the original German and in Italian in the "Osservatore Romano"
of 11 October, and on the newspaper's website in seven languages
(Italian, English, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese and Polish).
AUDIENCES
Vatican
City, 10 October 2012 (VIS) - This afternoon the Holy Father is
scheduled to receive in audience His Grace Rowan Williams, archbishop
of Canterbury and primate of the Anglican Communion.
OTHER
PONTIFICAL ACTS
Vatican
City, 10 October 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father:
-
Elevated Bishop Frans Daneels O. Praem., secretary of the Supreme
Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, to the dignity of archbishop.
-
Appointed Fr. Vital Corbellini of the clergy of the diocese of Caxias
do Sul, Brazil, missionary in the diocese of Ji-Parana and pastor of
the parish of "Sao Joao Batista" at Jaru, as bishop of
Maraba (area 81,832, population 646,000, Catholics 450,000, priests
35, religious 51), Brazil. The bishop-elect was born in Garibaldi,
Brazil in 1959 and ordained a priest in 1986. He has worked in
pastoral care in many different parishes and was vicar general of the
diocese of Caxias do Sul from 1997 to 2001.
-
Appointed Bishop Gregorio (Leozirio) Paixao Neto O.S.B., auxiliary of
the archdiocese of Sao Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, as bishop of
Petropolis (area 2,880, population 834,000, Catholics 646,000,
priests 104, permanent deacons 2, religious 385), Brazil.
You
can find more information at: www.visnews.org
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