Roman Catholic Reformation 500 Years Late

 

 

ROMAN CATHOLIC REFORMATION 500 YEARS LATE

Vatican II has been described as the “Roman Catholic Reformation 500 years late.” Britannica has indicated that the council incited some of the greatest upheavals internally in the Roman Catholic Church since the Reformation.

“The Second Vatican Council, also known as Vatican II, which took place from 1962 to 1965, was one of the most important councils in church history, and it profoundly changed the structures and practices of the church. It sought, in the words of Pope John XXIII, aggiornaménto, ‘to bring the church up to date,’ and many of the council’s decrees did bring the church into the modern world. Although the reforms were welcomed by many, they produced internal disruptions greater than any the church has known since the Protestant Reformation. Some have argued that the council did not go far enough, while others have maintained that its reforms went too far, too fast. In the decades following the council, liberal and conservative Catholics were divided over interpretation of its decrees. Although such disunity posed a real threat of schism, there were only a few group departures. The number of departures of individual members of the laity and clergy, however, was large enough to cause concern and remained an important matter for the church long after the council ended.”

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Roman-Catholicism/The-church-since-Vatican-II

—Martin E. Marty and Lawrence Cunningham, “The church since Vatican II,” Brittanica, updated October 29, 2024

Christianity Today, a Protestant publication, observes that Vatican II instigated a marked break from traditional preconciliar Roman Catholicism.

“Some Catholic commentators have remarked that certain…reforms came 500 years too late. But Vatican Council II also remained true to Catholic tradition as a whole, often recovering older themes and teachings that had been lost or minimized during the later Middle Ages and the Counter-Reformation.

“Looking back over the last 20 years, evangelicals cannot help but notice the Catholic church’s more ecumenical stance. Vatican II threw the church’s doors wide open to discourse with other Christians, whom it now embraced as ‘separated brethren’ rather than as unbelievers drowning outside the ark of salvation.

“…The theological impact of the council has perhaps been the most surprising. Thomas Aquinas, the Tridentine decrees, and neoscholastic theology—all of which defined Catholicism theologically for centuries—have, intentionally or not, lost their place of honor almost overnight, and nothing else has as yet taken their place.”

https://www.christianitytoday.com/1983/02/current-religious-thought-catholicism-20-years-after/

—John Van Engen, “Catholicism 20 Years after Vatican II,” Christianity Today, February 18, 1983

In what sense has Vatican II been a type of Reformation? Indeed. I’d venture that it can be summarily understood as such only if we interpret the Reformation as a political event primarily rather than a theological one. The Reformation was a political revolution—historians often interpret it as a watershed precursor of the 1688 English and 1789 French Revolutions, both of which pushed the West further along the path of political, social, and cultural liberalism. The Reformation was the boiling over of long simmering resistance against the hegemony of the Roman Catholic Church in Western Europe, a dominance historically conjoined with political powers that be, throughout the medieval period. During the Reformation schism raced forward hand-in-hand with major political separation and conflict.

Vatican II recapitulated the Reformation in the sense it incorporated in a doctrinal manner from a highly authoritative ecclesial platform liberalizing threads that had been advancing in Roman Catholicism over the post-Reformation centuries. It was, if you will, political liberalism writ globally finding expression in wholesale religious change, internally especially.

What are the liberalizing transformations that took place beginning with Vatican II? Among the most notable changes we cite the following examples, all of which, arguably, show significantly liberal influence:

Teaching on Religious Freedom

In Dignitatis Humanae the Church for the first time recognized the conscience rights of all people to freedom of religion, and declared it was the responsibility of states to protect religious freedom with stable laws. The idea that the state should be neutral in religion, or that liberal democratic states could be entrusted to protect human dignity or even that there was any such thing as a right to religious freedom, had been condemned by Pope Pius IX.

https://www.catholicregister.org/features/item/15194-what-changed-at-vatican-ii

—Catholic Register Staff, “What changed at Vatican II,” The Catholic Register, October 8, 2012

Many of the bigger doctrinal changes were those that most Catholics were oblivious to, or knew about only in passing. The biggest of these was the Declaration of Religious Liberty.

By declaring that the only just form of government was one under which people were free to worship as they pleased, the church relinquished centuries-old preferential treatment for particular governments. Prior to the declaration, the church had benefited from governments that either repressed other religious organizations, or otherwise provided financial or legal support for the Catholic Church.

https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-church-resists-change-but-vatican-ii-shows-its-possible-102543

—“The Catholic Church resists change – but Vatican II shows it’s possible,” The Conversation, October 2, 2018

Teaching on Ecumenism

Unitatis Redintegratio declared the ecumenical movement a good thing, encouraged Catholics to be part of it and referred to Eastern, Oriental and Protestant Christians as “separated brethren.” In 1928 Pope Pius XI had condemned the ecumenical movement. From the Council of Trent until the Second Vatican Council Protestants were officially referred to as heretics.

https://www.catholicregister.org/features/item/15194-what-changed-at-vatican-ii

—Catholic Register Staff, op. cit.

[The Roman Catholic Church] entered into ecumenical conversations with other churches with the hope of establishing greater Christian unity. The church has assumed observer status in the World Council of Churches and has participated in groups associated with the World Council. Representatives of the church participated in the discussions sponsored by the World Council that led to the publication of the important document Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry (1982), which identified areas of agreement between the churches on several core teachings; the church responded positively, though with qualification, to the text. Steps to improve relations with non-Christian religions were made at Vatican II and by the popes of the later 20th century.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Roman-Catholicism/The-church-since-Vatican-II

—Martin E. Marty and Lawrence Cunningham, op. cit.

Teaching on Non-Christian Religions

Another major course correction was Catholicism’s orientation on the Jewish people and non-Catholics. According to Catholic author Greg Tobin, this was

‘one of the most important theological and global breakthroughs, in terms of what came out of Vatican II. The church radically changed its position on the teaching about Jews, and really opened up to dialogue with the Jewish community; and encouraged — and demanded — that Catholics not consider the Jews as “other” or enemy but, in fact, as brothers and sisters under the same God. And it was a monumental shift in the position of the church and in the teachings of the church. So it was a sea change, in terms of the Catholic Church.’

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-happened-at-vatican-ii

—David Mathis, “What Happened at Vatican II: And How to Pray 50 Years Later,” Desiring God, October 11, 2012

The council’s declaration Nostra aetate (October 28, 1965; “In Our Era”) rejected the traditional accusation that the Jews killed Christ, recognized the legitimacy of Judaism, and condemned anti-Semitism.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Roman-Catholicism/The-church-since-Vatican-II

—Martin E. Marty and Lawrence Cunningham, op. cit.

A long list of postconciliar changes, most of which, I’d opine, require elaboration, is provided at this source:

https://www.mycatholicsource.com/mcs/cg/latin_mass_and_catholic_tradition/summary_of_changes_since_vatican_ii.htm

—“Summary of Changes Since Vatican II: A Revolution in the Church?” MyCatholicSource.com

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THE SPIRIT OF VATICAN II

After a Vatican summit on the future of the Catholic Church that ended without enacting any major reforms, Pope Francis is facing questions about whether his 11-year papacy is running out of steam.

The pontiff, who turns 88 in December and has suffered bouts of poor health, invested four years in preparing the summit, which yielded no concrete action on issues including expanding roles for women in the Church.

“It’s difficult to see big innovations coming out of a papacy that’s more than 11 years old,” said Rev. Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest and commentator. “Part of what we’re seeing is the novelty of Pope Francis is wearing off.”

The summit that ended on Saturday, October 26, included cardinals, bishops and lay people from more than 110 countries, and the 368 members with voting rights included nearly 60 women.

A final text called for women to be granted more leadership roles in the Church but stopped short of asking for them to be ordained as clergy.

…The 52-page final document from the Synod of Bishops did not mention the LGBTQ community but made a veiled reference to people in the Church who “experience the pain of feeling excluded or judged because of their marital situation, identity or sexuality”.

Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, a group that supports LGBTQ Catholics, said the text was “insufficient in addressing the pastoral and doctrinal harm being done to LGBTQ+ people and our families by the Church”.

Pope’s pace slowing

Francis has sought to open the Catholic Church to uncomfortable conversations and to engage with as wide an audience as possible.

…The four-year synod process, first convoked by Francis in March 2020, has been a signature initiative of his papacy. It involved an unprecedented two-year canvassing of Catholics’ opinions and two summits in Rome, held a year apart.

Advocates for bigger roles for women in the Church had hoped the 2024 synod assembly might call for women to serve as deacons – ordained ministers who, unlike priests, cannot celebrate the Mass. In its final text, the synod said the question “remains open”.

“The document has reaffirmed that we heard women in every region of the world say they continue to encounter obstacles to living out their Christian faith as full members of the Church,” said Catherine Clifford, a voting synod member and part of the committee responsible for drafting the final document.

“The question is not closed, and that in itself I think is an encouragement,” said Clifford, a professor at Saint Paul University in Ottawa.

https://www.rappler.com/world/europe/inconclusive-vatican-summit-raises-questions-pope-momentum/

—Reuters, “Inconclusive Vatican summit raises questions about Pope’s momentum,” Rappler.com, October 29, 2024

Papa Francesco is transforming the Church according to the so-called “spirit of Vatican II,” implementing the liberalizing trajectories that the council originated and inscribed on its reformatory agenda. Nearly sixty years after the conclusion of the council, we are now beginning to see, feel, and experience the changes. Ecclesia semper reformanda est.

I am pleased to witness the changes under Papa Francesco. We all have to work on them—among them, women as leaders in the Church, and charity towards the marginalized members of the Church and their inclusion as children of God.