Cardinal Ruini proposes “re-reading” of Vatican II

Rome, Italy, Jun 21, 2005 / 22:00 pm

Vatican analyst Sandro Magister of the Italian online magazine L’Espresso published an article Wednesday on a recent speech given by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, Vicar of the Diocese of Rome, in which he called for a re-writing of the history of Vatican II “according to the truth.”

Magister reveals in his column that on June 17 Cardinal Ruini spoke forcefully against the manipulation of Vatican II while presenting a new book on the Council written by historian and Italian bishop Agostino Marchetto.

“Cardinal Ruini,” writes Magister, explained that “Marchetto’s book acts as a counterpoint, or indeed as the polar opposite, to the interpretation of Vatican II that until now has monopolized Catholic historiography throughout the world. It is the interpretation advanced by the five-volume ‘History of Vatican Council II’ directed by Giuseppe Alberigo and published in six languages between 1965 and 2001.

According to Magister, the new book presented by Ruini openly opposes the interpretation of the Council promoted in Italy—and later throughout the world—by Fr. Giuseppe Dossetti, which said that the “real council is the ‘spirit’ of the council,” represented by John XXIII.

This “spirit” would be open to any subjective interpretation of the church and its enemies would be identified with Paul VI and those who historically have wanted to apply the true conciliar reform.

Nevertheless, notes Magister, Cardinal Ruini has demonstrated in his speech that Vatican II did not mark a break with the tradition of the Church, but rather a continuity defended even by Pope John XXIII himself.  Ruini “contested the contrast made between John XXIII and Paul VI, as seen in the history of Vatican II produced by Alberigo and the Bologna School,” Magister points out.

Magister’s complete column can be found at: http://www.chiesa.espressonline.it/index.jsp?eng=y