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I was sorry that I missed Roberto de Mattei's Lecture last night, it was sponsored by the LMS, and was a memorial lecture to honour Michael Davies and the title was 'From the Second Vatican Council to the Synod: The Teaching of Michael Davies'. Fortunately Rorate have put it online, it is worth making the effort to read. If you need persuasion, here is just one little section to whet your appetite: Reading M. Davies’ work can help us understand the present crisis. We are now faced with a Synod of Bishops on the Family that seems to be questioning...

Those who wish to apply a 'hermeneutic of continuity' to Vatican II, or who deny that there can be any opposition or rupture between the documents of that council and Catholic tradition, or who claim that the assertion that the authentic teachings of Vatican II formally contradict the tradition of the Church is false, might consider the following passage from the council's pastoral constitution Gaudium et Spes: Gaudium et Spes 24: 'Quapropter dilectio Dei et proximi primum et maximum mandatum est.' For non-Latinists, this claim (it is a complete sentence in the conciliar document) can be translated as follows: 'For...

ZENIT - The World Seen From Rome Code: ZE05121805 Date: 2005-12-18 Pope: Catholic Politicians Need to Be Aware of Christian Identity Urges That They Act Against Injustice and Tyranny VATICAN CITY, DEC. 18, 2005 (Zenit.org).- One of the challenges facing the Church is to help Catholic politicians recognize their Christian identity and act accordingly, says Benedict XVI. The Pope addressed this topic Saturday when receiving in audience a third group of Polish bishops making their five-yearly visit to the Holy See. Recalling the teachings of the Second Vatican Council's constitution "Gaudium et Spes," the Holy Father said: "Those who...

The End of Gaudium et Spes? A strained optimism--possibly a product of the era in the Second Vatican Council met--thwarts realistic attempts to address the crisis in Catholicism today. By James Hitchcock May. 01 (CWR) - Historical events can never be understood fully by those immersed in them, since larger patterns only become apparent with time. But only those who live through events can understand the force of that elusive reality which later historians can never fully recover: the "spirit of the times." The Second Vatican Council has been endlessly studied and debated, in terms of its decrees and their...