If you are a total Catholic church news nerd like me and are very immersed in nitty gritty of the various Church news things in the world, you may have read in Catholic news about an archbishop by the name of Carlo Vigano. Archbishop Vigano is the former Apostolic Nuncio to the USA. An apostolic nuncio is basically the Pope’s “representative” delegate to a particular country. He served in such position from 2011 until he retired in 2016. However, more recently, he has been writing things that have been gaining him headlines again in the United States and Catholic news. In 2018 when news broke about many of the terrible things that had been done by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick (who has since been defrocked from his title as Cardinal and faculties as a priest), Vigano wrote an “open letter” criticizing how things regarding McCarrick had been handled, saying that he had reported things about McCarrick several years before and nothing had been done previously.
In the last few months, Vigano wrote an open letter to President Donald Trump. And not only did he write a letter, but President Trump actually read the letter. And not only did President Trump read the letter, but then he tweeted the letter out to all his followers.
Why do I bring this up? Because Archbishop Vigano is a voice of the Catholic Church that has been gaining attention and traction especially in the USA, not just with some groups in Catholicism, but with the President himself! Some see Archbishop Vigano as a profoundly prophetic voice, warning against and calling out the dangers of some actions, ideologies, and patterns of thought by various government and Church leaders, that we ought to be wary of as being opposed to our faith. And I think he does voice some valid concerns that are worth considering!
However, he also says things like we ought to throw out the Vatican II Council entirely, that all the negative things we are experiencing in the Church are a direct result of that! Does Archbishop Vigano voice some valid concerns and critiques? Certainly. But while he is A voice of the Catholic Church, he is not THE voice of the Catholic Church.
As the Catholic Church, part of what gives our beliefs solid grounding and foundation is that what the Church teaches and believe is not just the opinion of this or that particular individual. It is the tried and true collected teaching and wisdom from throughout the ages. The Church wrestles with various ideas, through experience, through prayer, through conversations, local Synods, regional Councils, and ultimately Full-Church (or “ecumenical”) Councils. And we believe that the Holy Spirit guides this process! We believe that when the Church acts together with the Bishop of Rome (the successor of St. Peter), the Holy Spirit works with us. Jesus said, “You are Peter. And upon this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the netherworld will not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18)
Perhaps there are some ambiguous statements from the Vatican II Council that need some clarifying. Perhaps the ideas of the Council were poorly implemented, and we need to better live into the vision given by Vatican II Council. These are perhaps some valid criticisms. But to say the whole Council ought to be thrown out? The Vatican II Council was called by the Bishop of Rome, the Successor of St. Peter. And to call for an “undoing” of the entire Council not only ignores many good fruits that have come out of Vatican II, but it may very well put one in a position where they may find themselves working against the Holy Spirit!
I will say more about Vatican II Council in coming weeks.
Peace,
-Fr. Kevin
