Message of the Counciliar Assembly, 

18‐21 October 2012

Frankfurt/Germany 

 

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The Second Vatican Council was the beginning of a beginning: the Catholic Church set out to enter into the modern and plural world ‐ a world in which the gap between rich and poor continues to grow. It rediscovers Jesus’ face ‐ in the people’ fears and hopes, especially of the poor and harassed. The Council was also a time of dawn in a church that wanted to overcome clericalism. But obsolete church structures still hamper a credible proclamation of the Gospel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Press Conference

Rome, Oct 9, 2012

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International Movement ‘We Are Church’ (IMWAC)

Movimento Internazionale ‘Noi siamo Chiesa’ (IMWAC)

 

European Network Church ‘On The Move’ (EN/RE)

Rete Europea ‘Chiesa per la Riforma’ (EN/RE)

 

 

On the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Opening of the Second Vatican Council, the International Movement We Are Church (IMWAC) and the European Network Church on the Move (EN/RE), Witness to and Hope for a Church Ever More Free and Human, Built on Communities of Baptized Christians Deeply Committed to Ministry in the Church and Justice in the World

 

1.         The Second Vatican Council endorsed a profound renovation of the Catholic Church, both in its own structures and in its relationship to the world. The transformation in the liturgy was one of the central and most visible fruits of the Council, especially in its use of vernacular languages and its celebration based on the local community. The constitutions “Lumen Gentium” and “Gaudium et Spes” contain definitions of the Church itself (now seen as the People of God) and of the value of the secular world and how we might minister to it.

This is an interview published by the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

 

Other languages: [Catalan] [French] [German] [Italian] [Portuguese] [Spanish]

 

How do you see the situation of the Church?

The Church is tired, in prosperous Europe and in America. Our culture is out of date; our Churches are big; our religious houses are empty, and the Church’s bureaucratic apparatus is growing, and our rites and our vestments are pompous. Do such things really express what we are today? ... Prosperity weighs us down. We find ourselves like the rich young man who went away sad when Jesus called him to become his disciple. I know that it’s not easy to leave everything behind. At least could we seek people who are free and closer to their neighbors, as Bishop Romero was and the Jesuit martyrs of El Salvador? Where among us are heroes to inspire us? We must never limit them by institutional bonds.

A press release from We Are Church Germany, translated in english / français1 français2 / italiano / português

 

 

With the appointment by Pope Benedict XVI of the Bishop of Regensburg, Professor Dr Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, as Prefect of the Congregation of the Faith, he is taking up this office in an extremely difficult phase of Church history, in which the reception and implementation of the Second Vatican Council, which opened just fifty years ago, is at stake.  It will soon become clear whether with Professor Mueller the window of the Second Vatican Council will again be opened wider, so as be effective as Church in the world – or whether the very last shutters of the window will be closed so that the Church shuts itself off from the world.

Press Statement by Prof. Hans Küng

 

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General discontent and frustration over the delay of inner-church reforms dominated both the alternative and the official Katholikentag (bi-annual Catholic Congress) at Mannheim. In sharp contrast, Pope Benedict XVI is obviously preparing for the definite reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the traditionalist Society of St Pius X and its bishops and priests. This is even to take place if the SSPX, which continues to reject decisive Council texts, should have to be reincorporated with the help of canonical artistic devices. The Pope should be warned in the strongest terms against doing this, not least by the bishops, because:

1.    The Pope would be taking invalidly ordained bishops and priests definitely back into the Church. According to Pope Paul VI’s Apostolic Constitution Pontificalis Romani recognito of 18 July 1968, the ordinations of bishops and priests undertaken by Archbishop Lefebvre were not only illicit but also invalid. This is also the view taken by Karl Josef Becker SJ, an authoritative member of the “Reconciliation Commission” and now a cardinal, among others.

2.    With such a scandalous decision, Pope Benedict, in his already much bewailed aloofness, would further distance himself from the People of God. The classical teaching on schism should be a warning to him. According to the teaching, a schism occurs if one separates oneself from the Church but also if one separates oneself from the body of the Church. “Thus the Pope could also become a schismatic if he did not wish to maintain the union and affinity he owes to the whole body of the Church” (Francisco Suarez, authoritative 16th/17th century Spanish theologian).

3.    According to the same church teaching, a schismatic Pope loses his office. At the very least, he can no longer reckon with obedience. Pope Benedict would thus further promote the already growing movement of “disobedience” to a hierarchy which is disobeying the Gospels. He alone would be responsible for the serious rift and strife which he would thus promulgate in the Church.  

Instead of seeking reconciliation with the ultra-conservative, anti-democratic and anti-Semitic Society of St Pius X, the Pope should rather attend to the interests of the majority of Catholics and seek reconciliation with the Reformation Churches and with the whole of ecumenical Christianity. In that way he would not divide minds.

May 22, 2012                        Prof. Dr. Hans Küng

Translation: Christa Pongratz-Lippitt, Vienna