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Posted on 01/07/2026 7:46:43 PM PST by ebb tide
"It is the Magisterium [of the Second Vatican Council] that still constitutes the guiding star of the Church’s journey today."
Pope Leo XIV expressed this during his Wednesday General Audience, on January 7, in the Vatican, as he began a new catechesis series, which is dedicated to Vatican Council II and a rereading of its Documents, following the Jubilee Year's focus on the mysteries of the life of Jesus.
The Pope called this "a valuable opportunity to rediscover the beauty and the importance of this ecclesial event," pointing to Pope Saint John Paul II's words at the end of the Jubilee 2000 when he said, “I feel more than ever in duty bound to point to the Council as the great grace bestowed on the Church in the twentieth century.”
Pope Leo recalled that, in 2025, along with the anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the Church recalled the 60th anniversary of Vatican II.
He said that while the time that separates us from this event is not so long, it is true that the generation of Bishops and theologians of Vatican II is no longer with us.
"Therefore, while we hear the call not to let its prophecy fade, and to continue to seek ways and means to implement its insights, it will be important to get to know it again closely, and to do so not through 'hearsay' or interpretations that have been given, but by rereading its documents and reflecting on their content."
He quoted Pope Benedict XVI's words in 2005 that “as the years have passed, the Conciliar Documents have lost none of their timeliness; indeed, their teachings are proving particularly relevant to the new situation of the Church and the current globalized society.”
Pope Leo recalled that when Pope Saint John XXIII opened the Council on October 11, 1962, he spoke of it as the dawn of a day of light for the whole Church, adding that, "The work of the numerous Fathers convened from the Churches of all continents did indeed pave the way for a new ecclesial season."
"After a rich biblical, theological, and liturgical reflection spanning the twentieth century," Pope Leo highlighted, "Vatican II rediscovered the face of God as the Father who, in Christ, calls us to be His children; it looked at the Church in the light of Christ, light of nations, as a mystery of communion and sacrament of unity between God and His people; it initiated important liturgical reform, placing at its centre the mystery of salvation and the active and conscious participation of the entire People of God."
At the same time, the Pope reflected, "it helped us to open up to the world and to embrace the changes and challenges of the modern age in dialogue and co-responsibility" as a Church that "wishes to open her arms to humanity, to echo the hopes and anxieties of peoples, and to collaborate in building a more just and fraternal society."
Thanks to the Second Vatican Council, Pope Leo underscored, quoting Pope Saint Paul VI's Encyclical Ecclesiam suam, the Church “has something to say, a message to give, a communication to make,” striving to seek the truth by way of ecumenism, interreligious dialogue, and dialogue with people of good will.
"This spirit, this inner disposition," Pope Leo insisted, "must characterize our spiritual life and the pastoral action of the Church, because we have yet to achieve ecclesial reform more fully in a ministerial sense, and, in the face of today’s challenges, we are called to continue to be vigilant interpreters of the signs of the times, joyful proclaimers of the Gospel, courageous witnesses of justice and peace."
He recalled then-Bishop Albino Luciani, the future Pope John Paul I, who wrote a note at the beginning of the Council. "As always," wrote Bishop Luciani, "there is a need to achieve not so much organizations or methods or structures, but a deeper and more widespread holiness."
Pope Leo noted that Pope Francis would later say the Council helped the Church “restore primacy to God, to what is essential: to a Church madly in love with its Lord and with all the men and women whom he loves.”
Finally, Pope Leo XIV concluded with an invitation to engage in a fresh reading of the Second Vatican Council's documents.
"As we approach the documents of Vatican II and rediscover their prophetic and contemporary relevance, we welcome the rich tradition of the life of the Church, and, at the same time, we question ourselves about the present and renew our joy in running towards the world to bring it the Gospel of the kingdom of God, a kingdom of love, justice, and peace."
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Dear God, may this be the final pope who’s hung up on “the Council.” It’s quite possible that the next guy will have been born after 1965, and will be free of this affliction.
The Second Vatican Council was the birth child of modernists and it's evil "spirit" has been supporting those same modernists to this very day, for over 60 years.
I sure hope he's lying--to fool the homodernists of the media.
That little lie would be a venial sin, I'm sure, since he's in a continual media war zone, and at times needs to speak strategically to misdirect their malign attentions.
I firmly embrace and accept each and every definition that has been set forth and declared by the unerring teaching authority of the Church, especially those principal truths which are directly opposed to the errors of this day.
And first of all, I profess that God, the origin and end of all things, can be known with certainty by the natural light of reason from the created world (see Rom. 1:20), that is, from the visible works of creation, as a cause from its effects, and that, therefore, his existence can also be demonstrated:
Secondly, I accept and acknowledge the external proofs of revelation, that is, divine acts and especially miracles and prophecies as the surest signs of the divine origin of the Christian religion and I hold that these same proofs are well adapted to the understanding of all eras and all men, even of this time.
Thirdly, I believe with equally firm faith that the Church, the guardian and teacher of the revealed word, was personally instituted by the real and historical Christ when he lived among us, and that the Church was built upon Peter, the prince of the apostolic hierarchy, and his successors for the duration of time.
Fourthly, I sincerely hold that the doctrine of faith was handed down to us from the apostles through the orthodox Fathers in exactly the same meaning and always in the same purport. Therefore, I entirely reject the heretical misrepresentation that dogmas evolve and change from one meaning to another different from the one which the Church held previously. I also condemn every error according to which, in place of the divine deposit which has been given to the spouse of Christ to be carefully guarded by her, there is put a philosophical figment or product of a human conscience that has gradually been developed by human effort and will continue to develop indefinitely.
Fifthly, I hold with certainty and sincerely confess that faith is not a blind sentiment of religion welling up from the depths of the subconscious under the impulse of the heart and the motion of a will trained to morality; but faith is a genuine assent of the intellect to truth received by hearing from an external source. By this assent, because of the authority of the supremely truthful God, we believe to be true that which has been revealed and attested to by a personal God, our Creator and Lord.
Furthermore, with due reverence, I submit and adhere with my whole heart to the condemnations, declarations, and all the prescripts contained in the encyclical Pascendi and in the decree Lamentabili, especially those concerning what is known as the history of dogmas. I also reject the error of those who say that the faith held by the Church can contradict history, and that Catholic dogmas, in the sense in which they are now understood, are irreconcilable with a more realistic view of the origins of the Christian religion. I also condemn and reject the opinion of those who say that a well-educated Christian assumes a dual personality--that of a believer and at the same time of a historian, as if it were permissible for a historian to hold things that contradict the faith of the believer, or to establish premises which, provided there be no direct denial of dogmas, would lead to the conclusion that dogmas are either false or doubtful. Likewise, I reject that method of judging and interpreting Sacred Scripture which, departing from the tradition of the Church, the analogy of faith, and the norms of the Apostolic See, embraces the misrepresentations of the rationalists and with no prudence or restraint adopts textual criticism as the one and supreme norm.
Furthermore, I reject the opinion of those who hold that a professor lecturing or writing on a historico-theological subject should first put aside any preconceived opinion about the supernatural origin of Catholic tradition or about the divine promise of help to preserve all revealed truth forever; and that they should then interpret the writings of each of the Fathers solely by scientific principles, excluding all sacred authority, and with the same liberty of judgment that is common in the investigation of all ordinary historical documents.
Finally, I declare that I am completely opposed to the error of the modernists who hold that there is nothing divine in sacred tradition; or what is far worse, say that there is, but in a pantheistic sense, with the result that there would remain nothing but this plain simple fact--one to be put on a par with the ordinary facts of history--the fact, namely, that a group of men by their own labor, skill, and talent have continued through subsequent ages a school begun by Christ and his apostles. I firmly hold, then, and shall hold to my dying breath the belief of the Fathers in the charism of truth, which certainly is, was, and always will be in the succession of the episcopacy from the apostles. The purpose of this is, then, not that dogma may be tailored according to what seems better and more suited to the culture of each age; rather, that the absolute and immutable truth preached by the apostles from the beginning may never be believed to be different, may never be understood in any other way.
I promise that I shall keep all these articles faithfully, entirely, and sincerely, and guard them inviolate, in no way deviating from them in teaching or in any way in word or in writing. Thus I promise, this I swear, so help me God.
____________________________________
Prayers and Devotions of St. Pius X. Ejaculation at the Elevation of the Mass and Come, O holy Ghost, fill the heart of thy faithful, and kindle in them the fire of thy love.
at the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Dominus meus, et Deus meus! My Lord and my God!
(These words are to be said with faith, piety, and love, while looking upon the Blessed Sacrament, either during the Elevation in the Mass, or when exposed on the altar. Indulgence of 7 years. --Pius X, 1907.)
(300 Days Indulgence. St. Pius X. 1907.)
O Lord, preserve to us the Faith
(100 Days Indulgence. St. Pius X, 1908.)
Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine.
(300 Days Indulgence. St. Pius X, 1905.)
And I don't think a pope should cater to the media.
So this is what Pope Leo wants to be published.
From Pope St Pius X' Oath against Modernism which was abolished by the modernist Paul VI in 1967.
VCII is at best the imposition of some new imperatives on the life of the Church. When you displace the historic imperatives of a religion, you have a different religion.
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