Because He Was a German!: Cardinal Bea and the Origins of Roman Catholic Engagement in the Ecumenical Movement by Jerome-Michael Vereb

Author:Jerome-Michael Vereb [Jerome-Michael Vereb]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2008-09-28T19:26:00+00:00

Tardini's response was immediate and enthusiastic: "Si! Un Concilio! "23

The topic of conversation according to Flamini was that, in the midst of complexities of Cold War politics, religion was failing, and that to combat growing indifference, not only the Catholic Church but all Christian Churches needed to seek ways to bring back freshness to Christianity. According to John, the idea of a council was "Un Balzo Inavanti" [A Leap Forward]. Therefore, only five days later, in the presence of a handful of Cardinals, Pope John proclaimed the Council in the Basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls at the conclusion of the Week of Church Unity Octave, as it was then called, on the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, zs January.24

From its inception in r9o8, the Occasion of Church Unity Octave presented the world with a concept of ecumenism. For many, there was confusion between "return" or "reunion." At the time of Pope John's proclamation of the Council, it was still not yet clear. The public events of 11959 were to be about world unity, the urgency of which was clear, against the terrifying threats of the Cold War. On that occasion, without eliminating his themes, John effectively conveyed a message of unity. Political commentators Roland Flamini and Giancarlo Zizola believed that the political crisis between East and West weighed heavily upon the shoulders of the pontiff, along with his sensitivity to a growing relaxation into secularism, agnosticism, and even atheism in Europe. Both Cardinal Willebrands and Archbishop Capovilla confirmed for the author viva voce that the above inter pretation is correct. Pope John was to confirm his message about unity in even more explicit terms on 29 June 11959, with the encyclical Ad Petri Cathedram (At the Chair of Peter). Pope John would, it seems, grow into a more precise theological focus upon reunion in the remainder of his pontificate, as will be evident on the occasion of the visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury in late 1960.25

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