Rome – Pope Francis on January 30 urged those in charge of transmitting the principles of the Catholic faith to consider the teachings of the Second Vatican Council as sacrosanct, saying that to be Catholic it is necessary to adhere to the reforms brought about by the landmark event.
“You can be with the church and therefore follow the advice, or you cannot follow the advice or interpret it in your own way, as you want, and you are not with the church,” said the pontiff in a meeting with a group of catechists linked to the Italian Episcopal Conference.
“The council is the Church’s magisterium,” said the pope. “At this point, we must be demanding, strict. The council cannot be negotiated.”
“Please, no concession to anyone who intends to present a catechesis that is not in accordance with the Church’s teaching,” he told catechists.
The Second Vatican Council, convened by Pope John XXIII and held in Rome from 1962 to 1965, brought a series of reforms to the global Catholic Church, including the use of vernacular languages during liturgies and the redefinition of the Church as the “People of God. . “
The effect of the council has been hotly debated by Catholics in the decades since the event, with some movements now choosing even to return to a Latin Mass celebration.
Francis told catechists that the Church is experiencing a problem of “selectivity” in relation to the council’s teachings, and said it was a problem similar to one experienced after previous councils.
The pope mentioned a group of Catholic bishops who decided to create their own church because of disagreements after the First Vatican Council, held in Rome from 1869 to 1870, in an apparent reference to what is now known as the Old Catholic Church.
“I often think of a group of bishops who, after Vatican I, left … to continue the ‘true doctrine’ that was not that of Vatican I,” said the pontiff.
“Today, they ordain women,” continued the pope, adding: “The most severe attitude, keeping the faith without the Church’s teaching, leads you to ruin.”