The Synod Of Pistoia And Vatican Ii

"This book sheds further light on the nature of church reform and the roots of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) through a study of eighteenth-century Catholic reformers who anticipated the Council. The most striking of these examples is the Synod of Pistoia (1786), the high-water mark of late Jansenism. Most of the reforms of the Synod were harshly condemned by Pope Pius VI in the Bull Auctorem fidei (1794), and late Jansenism was totally discredited in the ultramontane nineteenth-century Church. Nevertheless, much of the Pistoian agenda - such as an exaltation of the role of bishops, an emphasis on infallibility as a gift to the entire Church, religious liberty, a simpler and more comprehensible liturgy that incorporates the vernacular, and the encouragement of lay Bible reading and Christocentric devotions - was officially promulgated at Vatican II. The career of Bishop Scipione de'Ricci (1741-1810) and the famous Synod he convened are investigated in detail. The international reception (and rejection) of the Synod sheds light on why these reforms failed, and the criteria of Yves Congar are used to judge the Pistoian Synod as "true or false reform." This book proves that the Synod was a "ghost" present at Vatican II. The council fathers struggled with, and ultimately enacted, many of the same ideas. This study complexifies the story of the roots of the Council and Pope Benedict XVI's "hermeneutic of reform," which seeks to interpret Vatican II as in "continuity and discontinuity on different levels" with past teaching and practice. Vatican II, Second Vatican Council, ressourcement, Jansenism, Synod of Pistoia, Scipione de'Ricci, Yves Congar, Benedict XVI, development of doctrine, Catholic Enlightenment"--

In this book, Shaun Blanchard argues that the roots of the Vatican II reforms must be pushed back beyond the widely acknowledged twentieth-century forerunners of the Council, beyond Newman and the Tübingen School in the nineteenth century, to the eighteenth century, when a variety of reform movements attempted ressourcement and aggiornamento. This close study of the Synod of Pistoia (1786) sheds surprising new light on the nature of church reform and the roots of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). The high-water mark of the late Jansenist reform movement, this Tuscan diocesan synod was harshly condemned by Pope Pius VI in the Bull Auctorem fidei (1794), and in the increasingly ultramontane nineteenth-century Church the late Jansenist movement was totally discredited. Nevertheless, much of the Pistoian agenda--an exaltation of the role of the local bishop, an emphasis on infallibility as a gift to the entire believing community, religious liberty, a more comprehensible liturgy that incorporates the vernacular, and the encouragement of lay Bible reading and Christocentric devotions--would be officially promulgated at Vatican II. Investigating the theological and historical context and nature of the reforms enacted by the Synod of Pistoia, he notes their parallels with the reforms of Vatican II, and argues that these connections are deeper than mere affinity. The tumultuous events surrounding the reception of the Synod explain why these reforms failed at the time. This book also offers a measured theological judgment on whether the Synod of Pistoia was "true or false reform." Although the Pistoians were completely rejected in their own day, the Second Vatican Council struggled with, and ultimately enacted, remarkably similar ideas.

The death of John Paul II and the election of Benedict XVI constituted two important elements in the broad theological and cultural landscape of Catholicism. This change of pontificate has also nourished the journalistic and political dispute about Vatican II, its history and its legacy, and not only the historiographical and theological debate. But the research on Vatican II is already proceeding forward and beyond the state of knowledge about the Council reached at the end of the 90s. For 21st century Catholics and theologians interested in understanding contemporary Catholicism in the light of Vatican II the intellectual undertaking is far from accomplished yet. The book offers comprehensive presentation of the theological and historiographical debate about Council Vatican II. The attempt to go beyond "the clash of interpretations" - Vatican II as a rupture in the history of Catholicism on one side, the need to read Vatican II in continuity with the tradition on the other - is necessary indeed because the ongoing debate about Vatican II is largely misrepresented by the use of "clashing interpretations" as a tool for understanding the role of the council in present-day Catholicism.

This fourth volume of the History of Vatican II reconstructs the work of the Council during the third session, which was to produce two of the most significant conciliar texts, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church and the Decree on Ecumenism. As with previous volumes an international team of scholars tracks the daily progress of the assembly and its numerous assisting bodies. Using sources from all the Council's groups, as well as an unprecedented acquisition of previously unpublished documents, they provide the reader with a rich, multidimensional knowledge of the event that more than any other shaped the Roman Catholic Church. The enthusiasm of the two previous sessions had given way to a greater awareness of the vastness of the conciliar task. The general desire on the part of the bishops to conclude the Council with this third session added to the pressure from many sides to produce significant results. The agenda thus included many complex issues in various schemas, and none surrounded by more tension than the question of collegiality, which was the source of passionate debate in the previous session.

The Second Vatican Council ended in December 1965, but Vatican II is still happening in the global church. Catholicism has always had a universal claim, but the globalization of Catholicism as a truly "world church" became part of Catholic theology only thanks to that gathering—decided by St. John XXIII—of bishops, theologians, lay observers, ecumenical representatives, and journalists. Vatican II is the most important event in church history after the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation, and it is the key to understanding Catholicism and its inner tensions today.

The Second Vatican Council envisaged a more prominent role of the synod of bishops in the Catholic church. However, the idea of the fathers of the council never came to full fruition. In this survey, Edet discusses why the reality does not meet the expectations of many of the fathers at Vatican II in terms of collegiality, communion and trinitarian theology. Edet emphasizes that this failure has implications for the church's life and mission. The concentration of decisive authority in the pope and his curia largely undermines the significance of the conciliar teaching on collegiality-dialogue and participation in the exercise of authority in the church. Edet offers an explanatory comparative investigation and evaluation of the Roman Catholic synod of bishops in relation to similar institutions in the Eastern Catholic and Anglican churches, as well as to the reflections on collegiality and synodality in some of the ecumenical dialogues.

Introductory ; Essay by Pope Benedict XVI This collection ; includes the four constitutions of the Second Vatican ; Council, the most popular and key documents for ; understanding the Council itself, its decrees, and its ; declarations. Few events in the history of the modern ; Catholic Church have been as far-reaching as the Second ; Vatican Council (1962-1965). And few have been as ; controversial. No one denies great changes have come about ; since the close of the Council. Have the changes been all ; good, all bad, or a mixture of both? To what extent were ; the changes, for good or ill, the result of the Council ; itself? Some have criticized the Council for not ; going far enough, though they maintain that the ""spirit ; of Vatican II"" supports their rejection of many firmly ; established Catholic beliefs and practices. Others claim ; the Council went too far and abandoned certain fundamental ; Catholic tenets in the name of ""updating"" the ; Church. The popes of the Council-John XXII and Paul VI-and ; their successors who also participated in the Council -John ; Paul I, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI-have insisted that ; the Council itself was the work of the Holy Spirit. They ; have aggressively criticized misinterpretations and ; distortions of it. They insist that the Council be ; understood in fundamental continuity with the Church's ; Tradition, even while deepening the Church's ; self-understanding and calling for authentic reforms and ; renewal of Catholic life. Readers can learn for ; themselves what the Second Vatican Council taught using ; this highly accessible collection of its basic ; texts. This book uses the Catholic Truth Society ; translation and features: The Constitution on ; the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, ; introduced by Cardinal Francis Arinze. The ; Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen ; Gentium, introduced by Cardinal Paul ; Poupard. The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine ; Revelation, Dei Verbum, introduced by Archbishop ; Charles J. Chaput, OFM, Cap. The Pastoral ; Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium ; et Spes, introduced by Cardinal Angelo ; Scola. Four major aspects of the Church's ; life-the Sacred Liturgy, the mystery of the Church herself, ; the Word of God, and the Church in the world as it is ; today-are explored. No twenty-first-century Catholic should ; be without these four foundational texts in this superb ; translation. The collection also includes a general ; introduction by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San ; Francisco, as well as an address given by Pope Emeritus ; Benedict XVI in 2005, explaining how best to understand the ; Second Vatican Council in the history of the Church.