Rome and the Coming Council
Wood, L. J. S.
232 THE COMMONWEAL January 6, 1926 ROME AND THE COMING COUNCIL By L. J. S. WOOD EVER since Pius XI made direct allusion to it in encyclical, Ubi arcano Dei of Christmas, 1922, there has...
...The doubt and controversy that were set at rest by the declaration of the Immaculate Conception do not exist here...
...the tongues and pens of the latter were loosed by Pius XI himself at Christmas, 1922...
...That is as far as we have gone at present, except that experts here have got out and studied thoroughly all the records of the Council of 1869-70 and that the way is, to that extent, smoother than it was then, no council having been held since the long drawn-out Trent...
...Take another matter...
...Would not all the bishops be here for the Jubilee ? What could be more convenient ? A Pope who at the present moment is forced to ask even cardinals to confine their audience time to ten minutes, working himself on an average seventeen hoursi a day, would find it quite convenient to get an oecumenical council into his spare moments, nor would anybody in particular be wanting, that year, to frequent the natural place for such meeting, Saint Peter's...
...The year 1925, of course, was seized on as a delightfully appropriate year...
...With the proviso that no one really knows anything—always expressed by such before they will begin the most informal conversation—one may sum up a prudent view of possibilities—1928, just possible perhaps, but very doubtful if it would give time for the necessary study and preparation...
...Much of this was considered and some conclusions adopted, but through the inevitable centering of thought on the "infallibility" much was left over...
...What is true of consistory is much more true of oecumenical council...
...To trace that immemorial belief on another matter one hears spoken of sometimes would need more study, the belief, that is, in the Madonna Mediatrice and all that the doctrine of such mediation may imply...
...It was in 1864 that Pope Pius IX first asked the views of the cardinals in Rome...
...Just as instance, the rights of the Church over the family and the school may be mentioned and, to go further, the big question of the Jus Gentium...
...Peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ," Pius XL It is true that from August, 1914, onward, and more particularly after November, 1918, thoughtful persons, especially such as remembered the appeal of the Protestant David Urquhart to Pius IX for a pronouncement by the Church through the Council of 1869, on what may be roughly called the Jus Gentium, the Law of Nations, had had a possible reopening of the Vatican Council in their minds...
...Among the considerations in General Congregation was that of the drawing up of a short catechism for the use of all Catholics...
...We have had many dates given us...
...That is an ordinary process, not leading necessarily to any conciliar procedure or ex Cathedra pronouncement, and its conclusion might well take the natural form, of which Pope Leo XIII's pontificate gave so many historic examples, of papal encyclical...
...Of some of these His Holiness spoke in the encyclical, and straightly, and has spoken since from time to time...
...What Pius XI said exactly was—"We do not for the moment go so far as directly to include in our program the reopening of the Oecumenical Council of the Vatican which the holy Pope Pius IX opened in the earliest memories of our youth, completing only a part of it though one of great moment...
...Judges VI, 18...
...He would like it—just because he loves Our Lady...
...but it goes without saying that there are those here whose experience and judgment enable them to estimate possibilities...
...On several of these subjects Pope Pius XI has recently urged study by learned experts and illumination by them of the minds of the faithful on the right solution of such urgent questions in the light of Catholic doctrine...
...Then we had 1926 given us, 1927, and now with great definiteness, 1928...
...Marian Theology is always under study, and the Catholic "man in the street" who hears of the possibility of the reopening of the Council is wondering if the Assumption will be proclaimed...
...It has broken out from time to time in news items giving the date and occasionally probable subjects for discussion...
...On the matters contained in this category, the Jus Gentium is one instance where there is room for and there is taking place much study—study for which the Confoederatio recently proposed at Oxford with its office here might be a mpst useful intercommunicatory centre—on lines of history, canon law and even theology...
...They were thinkers, however, not talkers...
...On the other hand, the Church has grown and developed enormously, in every way, in the intervening years...
...the developments in the outside word have necessitated a new race of men, men of action, to guide the Church...
...it was not until June, 1867, that he took advantage of the presence in Rome of many bishops for the Petrine centenary to speak to them, and twelve months later, June 19, 1868, the Bull of Publication, Aeterni Patris, came...
...In matter of bishops too, there has come about a noticeable change, in that the learning of the men of old days does not now suffice...
...McKeachen's invaluable work some years ago will be remembered...
...The program given him, the "unification of cathechetical teaching/' has been modified for more recent study to that of the 1869 Council, the drawing up of a short catechism, and there should well be time for the results of the experts' work, already, it is believed, codified in a drafted Latin text, to be considered and submitted to the episcopate in council, if such a course should be deemed advisable...
...They might, on the other hand, think it wise, and there is no difficulty in tracing the immemorial tradition of the Church...
...Another category of subjects has place in De Ecclesia Christi, appealing also to the consideration of the ordinary Catholic laity and indeed the outside world...
...wiser to give another two years and say 1930—and that indeed, provided always that the project goes straight on, nothing intervenes to influence the Pope's judgment towards delay...
...The writer does not pretend to be able to give the view of the Pope, the Cardinal Secretary of State or any high placed prelate...
...Take that one heading—De Ecclesia Christi, the Church, its whole position, its component parts and their relations, its own relation to the world, to civil states for instance...
...The fathers and the Pope may say that inasmuch as all believe it and believe that all have believed it always, there is no need...
...A good ground of study for such as look forward to possibilities is found in the uncompleted portions of the program of 1869...
...232 THE COMMONWEAL January 6, 1926 ROME AND THE COMING COUNCIL By L. J. S. WOOD EVER since Pius XI made direct allusion to it in encyclical, Ubi arcano Dei of Christmas, 1922, there has been surmise here about the reopening of the Vatican Council...
...This passage, it is worth noticing, came at the end of an earnest and confident appeal to the bishops of the Church to keep ever in their minds, and help the Pope to bring about, the consummation of the Trilogy: "Restoration of all things in Christ," Pius X; "Peace of Reconciliation," Benedict XV...
...It is axiomatic here that consistory, date of it and names of cardinals to be, are matters so absolutely at the discretion of the Pope, whose judgment may be influenced by the turn of an event at any time, that it is wise for outsiders to refrain from pretense at omniscience...
...What we have before us of certainty is Pius XI's desire to reopen the Vatican Council when he feels that he has received enlightenment...
...Pius XI, it is understood, has asked the cardinals and also the bishops their views, first on the advisability of reopening the Vatican Council, secondly on matters they think worthy of consideration...
...Here is a point on which in recent years there has been much expert study in preparation...
...That is seen in the materially simple fact of there being now practically double the number of bishops there were then...
...And the reason is, indeed, that we, like the illustrious leader of the Israelites, must wait, praying the while that the Lord may "grant us clear indication of His will...
...Average opinion here would look for as an upshot, rather encyclical than conciliar pronouncement—if and when pronouncement comes...
...But, as regards all these, while there is nothing to prevent their being considered by Pope and bishops in council and they may well be thought worthy of consideration and even pronouncement, the Church, the Holy Father, may consider and treat them in another way...
...In this aspect there will be a great difference between the assembly of 1869 and that to which we look forward...
...And even here the possibilities are almost unlimited...
Vol. 3 • January 1926 • No. 9
