Key figure in dialogue with SSPX examines assent owed to Vatican II

December 02, 2011

Msgr. Fernando Ocariz, the vicar general of Opus Dei and one of the Vatican experts involved in discussions with the Society of St. Pius X, has written a lengthy article for L’Osservatore Romano on the assent that Catholics owe to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65).

“It is not pointless to recall that the pastoral motivation of the Council does not mean that it was not doctrinal--since all pastoral activity is necessarily based on doctrine,” writes Msgr. Ocariz, who has served as a consultor to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. “Furthermore, within the documents of the Council it is obvious that there are many strictly doctrinal teachings: on Divine Revelation, on the Church, etc.”

Msgr. Ocariz added:

The Second Vatican Council did not define any dogma, in the sense that it proposed no doctrine with a definitive act. However, even if the Magisterium proposes a teaching without directly invoking the charism of infallibility, it does not follow that such a teaching is therefore to be considered "fallible"--in the sense that what is proposed is somehow a “provisional doctrine” or just an “authoritative opinion.” Every authentic expression of the Magisterium must be received for what it truly is: a teaching given by Pastors who, in the apostolic succession, speak with the “charism of truth,” “endowed with the authority of Christ.”

This charism, this authority and this light were certainly present at the Second Vatican Council; to deny this to the entire episcopate gathered to teach the universal Church cum Petro and sub Petro [with Peter and under Peter], would be to deny something of the very essence of the Church

Naturally not all the affirmations contained in the conciliar documents have the same doctrinal value and therefore not all require the same degree of assent …

Those affirmations of the Second Vatican Council that recall truths of the faith naturally require the assent of theological faith, not because they were taught by this Council but because they have already been taught infallibly as such by the Church, either by a solemn judgement or by the ordinary and universal Magisterium. So also a full and definitive assent is required for the other doctrines set forth by the Second Vatican Council which have already been proposed by a previous definitive act of the Magisterium.

The Council’s other doctrinal teachings require of the faithful a degree of assent called “religious submission of will and intellect.” Precisely because it is “religious” assent, such assent is not based purely on rational motives. This kind of adherence does not take the form of an act of faith. Rather, it is an act of obedience that is not merely disciplinary, but is well-rooted in our confidence in the divine assistance given to the Magisterium, and therefore “within the logic of faith and under the impulse of obedience to the faith.” This obedience to the Magisterium of the Church does not limit freedom but, on the contrary, is the source of freedom …

Documents of the Magisterium may contain elements that are not exactly doctrinal — as is the case in the documents of the Second Vatican Council — elements whose nature is more or less circumstantial (descriptions of the state of a society, suggestions, exhortations, etc.). Such matters are received with respect and gratitude, but do not require an intellectual assent in the strictest sense.

“A number of innovations of a doctrinal nature are to be found in the documents of the Second Vatican Council: on the sacramental nature of the episcopate, on episcopal collegiality, on religious freedom, etc.,” Msgr. Ortiz added. “These innovations in matters concerning faith or morals, not proposed with a definitive act, still require religious submission of intellect and will, even though some of them were and still are the object of controversy with regard to their continuity with earlier magisterial teaching, or their compatibility with the tradition.”

Msgr. Ortiz continued:

In the face of such difficulties in understanding the continuity of certain conciliar teachings with the tradition, the Catholic attitude, having taken into account the unity of the Magisterium, is to seek a unitive interpretation in which the texts of the Second Vatican Council and the preceding magisterial documents illuminate each other. Not only should the Second Vatican Council be interpreted in the light of previous magisterial documents, but also some of these earlier magisterial documents can be understood better in the light of the Second Vatican Council.

This is nothing new in the history of the Church. It should be remembered, for example, that the meaning of important concepts adopted in the First Council of Nicaea in the formulation of the Trinitarian and Christological faith (hypóstasis, ousía), were greatly clarified by later councils.”

“It does not seem superfluous to call to mind that almost half a century has passed since the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council and that in these decades four Roman Pontiffs have succeeded one another on the Chair of Peter,” he concluded. “An assessment of the teaching of these Popes and the corresponding assent of the episcopate to that teaching should transform a possible situation of difficulty into a serene and joyful acceptance of the Magisterium, the authentic interpreter of the doctrine of the faith. This must be possible and is to be hoped for, even if aspects that are not entirely understood remain. In any case, there remains legitimate room for theological freedom and for further opportune in-depth study.”

 

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Further information:

• On adhesion to the Second Vatican Council (L’Osservatore Romano)