Thursday, November 14, 2013

Cardinal Koch indicates Blessed Pope Pius XII made a mistake

Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and relations with the Jews, Vatican has indicated in an article in the L'Osservatore Romano (Nov.12,2013) that an objective error overlooked by Pope PIus XII has resulted in two extreme views in the Catholic Church on Vatican Council II.
 
Here is a translated passage from Cardinal Kurt Koch's article in Italian in the L'Osservatore Romano (Nov. 12, 2013) in which he indicates Pope Pius XII made a mistake. (1)
 
This effort has certainly not lost any of its relevance now that we are to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the beginning of Vatican II. On the contrary , it has become even more urgent especially if we bear in mind the trends, long dominant to this important event, they see the council a break with the tradition of the Church, and this , in two directions : on the one hand, progressive currents continue to understand the council as the end of the previous ecclesial tradition and the beginning of something new.
Lionel: Pope Pius XII made a mistake in the Boston Heresy Case. Fr.Leonard Feeney was excommunicated for heresy.So now  LG 16 (invincible ignorance) is a break with Tradition.So Vatican Council II has begun something new.
 
 How to break with tradition the Vatican is interpreted on the other side , from the traditionalist current , which accuse him of having given birth to a new church , no longer identical to that existed until then.
Lionel: According to Cardinal Kurt Koch the traditionalists assume there are known cases of salvation which are exceptions to the dogma on salvation and the Syllabus of Error.The Council has given birth to new doctrines and a new church.This has originated from the Boston Case in which the pope had made a mistake.
It is therefore no coincidence that these two extreme tendencies , already on a linguistic level , agree on making a distinction between the pre-conciliar Church and the post-conciliar Church , as if the Church was no longer the same before and after the council .
Lionel: The 'extreme tendencies' originated in Boston during the pontificate of Pope Pius XII . The pope let Cushingism go unchecked.Yes the Church is no longer  the same before and after Vatican Council II if you use the false premise of being able to see the dead who are saved.Cardinal Kurt Koch too assumes  these cases are living exceptions to Tradition.
 The difference between the two trends is that while the progressive empathic supports a hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture ,
Lionel: There is a hermeneutic of rupture, correct.There was also a hermeneutic of reupture in the interpretation of the Letter of the Holy Office 1949. It is the premise which determines the hermeneutic.Without the irrational premise there is a hermeneutic of continuity.
the traditionalist favors hermeneutic of simple , ahistorical continuity ,
Lionel: This was  there in magisterial documents before the Letter of the Holy Office 1949.
but in reference to the Second Vatican Council , is revealed also a hermeneutic of rupture.
Lionel: The traditionalists also can only interpret the Council with the false premise.They are not aware that  Vatican Council II can be interpreted without the false premise.They indicate indirectly, that Pope Pius XII made a mistake. He gave birth to a new theology and ecclesiology.
 From both perspectives , the Vatican is no longer considered as part of the living tradition of the Church, existed until then, but as its end.
Lionel: If you use a false premise with any Church document there will be a break with the past.It happened during the pontificate of Pope Pius XII.
 
Once of course this error is corrected Vatican Council II is traditional on the issue of Christian communities and churches and the Jews.
 
Cardinal Koch is misrepresenting the Letter of the Holy Office 1949, may be unintentionally.Since the Letter does not state that Fr.Leonard Feeney was excommunicated for heresy but that it was for disobedience. It also does not state that the baptism of desire etc are cases known to us.Neither does it say that being saved in invincible ignorance the baptism of desire is a known exception to the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.Cardinal Koch and the liberals take all this for granted as if it is a fact mentioned in the Letter.
 
The Letter could be indicating that Fr.Leonard Feeney was rejecting the baptism of desire etc as a possibility.Though in the book, The Bread of Life, it is clear that Fr.Leonard Feeney accepted that a catechumen could have a genuine desire, an implicit desire. This could result in justification.So he accepted implicit desire as a possibility.
 
Who has an implcit desire and how he wil be saved, whether it will be justification only or also with salvation, is unknown to us. It is known only to God. Fr.Leonard Feeney said frankly, "I don't know".
 
 KOCH AND KASPAR WILLING TO SETTLE FOR LESS
 
Cardinal Kurt  Koch is telling us that he knows! He  personally knows cases saved with implicit desire etc. He indicates Pope Pius XII also 'knew'.
 
Ad Gentes 7, Vatican Council II is placed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church under the title Outside the Church No Salvation.AG 7 says all need faith and baptism. Cardinal Koch cannot name anyone in 2013 among Christians and Jews, who do not need 'faith and baptism' for salvation.
 
So the Council is traditional. It agrees with the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus and the Syllabus of Errors.Ecclesiology has not changed on the issue of other religions and Christian communities and churches.If there were known exceptions  then there could be a new ecclesiology, a theology of religions and 'extreme tendencies'.
 
Cardinal Koch and Cardinal Kaspar probably know this by now.They could be  willing to settle for something less rather than say that Vatican Council II is traditional. Cardinal Kaspar says the Council is 'ambigous' and Cardinal Koch says there are 'extreme tendencies'.
Some traditionalists have picked up their bait.
-Lionel Andrades
 
 

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