Cardinal Zen has it right on Vatican II – it is a light for our times, read rightly, in accord with tradition and the hermeneutic of continuity. I wonder what those who want to get rid of the Council, or at least sections thereof, realize what the effect of that may be. Like Voltaire, but in a different key, of course, they cry out ‘Ecrasez l’infame!’ – Obliterate the infamous thing!
But even with its limitations and imperfections – it is not meant to be Scripture – Vatican II is not the problem, for the rot in the Church runs far deeper, and those who are truly out to obliterate the entire Catholic Church, as was Voltaire’s apparent intent in his exhortation above, will find any means necessary to do so, whether by mangling and misinterpreting out-of-context phrases of the Council, which the Fathers, and certainly the Holy Spirit, never intended, or by just ignoring the Council’s – along with all the other Councils’ – numerous orthodox and conservative exhortations.
Should we really be continually gnawing at the Council, niggling over minutiae which have been gone over any number of times before – including by the nearly-three thousand bishops at the Council itself, including Cardinal Wojtyla and Father Ratzinger and numerous others. Should we not instead focus our time and energy upon shoring up the perennial teaching of the Church – immersing ourselves in all the prior two millennia of teaching of the Church, which our world so sorely needs, so that we might apply the Conciliar texts properly, and live out the truth in holy, fruitful and joyful lives.