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5-11-2012
Msgr. Brunero
Gherardini's new book, Il Vaticano II: Alle radice d'un equivoco
(Vatican II: at the roots of a misunderstanding (Turin, Lindau,
2012, 410 pages), is being released in Italy. This last offspring is
coming after at least three big brothers which saw the light of day in
2009: The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council: a Much-Needed
Discussion; “Problems, Ambiguities and Compromises of
the Interreligious Dialogues; Quod et Tradidi Vobis. Tradition,
Life and Youth of the Church.
Christina
Siccardi, known in Italian circles, raises the right questions around
this new book:
Does Vatican
II teach truly and exclusively what has been revealed and
transmitted? Does the objective meaning of words used at Vatican II
correspond to those of the preceding Magisterium and, in last
analysis, to those of the divine Revelation?[1]
When anyone
questions conciliar doctrine, the new generation, either of bishops
and priests, or of simple lay faithful, is often placed off-limits,
and even reacts assuming the position of "defensor fidei" -
that is to say, of
Vatican II.
Here, our Monsignore raises obvious questions on hotly disputed
Vatican II teachings (the list is long), and ultimately, the
fundamental question of the ‘magisterial’ validity of the conciliar
texts. For him, those teachings which are new and not referred to past
definitions have no value by themselves and need to be interpreted in
the light of past doctrine, under pain of setting Vatican II as an
insurmountable Mammoth crushing twenty previous council teachings.
Gherardini is a
phenomenon producing seismic reactions in the Roman milieu. His is a
dissenting voice in the all too common chorus of Hosanna in
praise of the past Council. He denounces the radical change of
direction of the post-conciliar Church epitomized in the Assisi acts.
The root of all this ambiguity - which he complains is never put under
examination - is anthropocentricism.
Modern man,
towards whom the conciliar anthropocentrism has made advances, has
absorbed ideas which undermine the relations both natural and
revealed between the creature and the Creator, has turned into the
flag-bearer and herald of such ideas, and therefore falls into an
irreconcilable state with the truth of doctrine and Tradition.
Hence, the
drifts of the Nouvelle theologie and of the Liberation
Theology.
If Msgr.
Gherardini does not share all the ideas of the SSPX, he certainly
agrees with the Society on fundamental concepts: the Tradition is
living only if uninterrupted; the romanitas of its founder; the
critique of the worldliness of the present Church. Would it be
far-fetched to wonder whether the stormy declarations of this late
‘convert’ to the traditional cause express the inner sentiments of an
important minority of Church leaders in Rome?
Footnote
1 Extracted from a book review posted on Miradouro.it
on May 9, 2012. |
