Huh? I showed that Leo XIII's statement was much more inclined to be interpreted heretically than Vatican II's. Why laugh? I don't understand you people on this forum
You didn't "show" anything. The sense of the term was explained and is even more evident by the surrounding context. It is no more controversial than stating "religion has always existed among men." As far as willfully interpreting a phrase in an heretical manner, this proves nothing; Scripture itself is interpreted in an heretical manner. Appealing to an allegedly obscure text in order to justify VII is to admit a basic premise of traditional Catholics. Whether it can be interpreted "in light of Tradition" remains to be seen, for the post-conciliar Popes and Bishops have certainly not interpreted it in such a manner. Now you come along and claim that the authentic magisterium of the Pope and Bishops is erroneous, you have the correct hermeneutical key and that there is simply no problem at all with Vatican II (even though you implicitly admitted that there is a problem). Even Benedict XVI's "hermeneutic of continuity" contains an inherent contradiction. But supposing I granted his vague platitude, that doesn't get us an inch closer to determining whether VII contains erroneous doctrine or propositions that lead to error; whether its presentation of Catholic doctrine is seriously defective (a proposition which U.R. actually asserts viz. previous magisterial teaching). If you retort that Scripture itself is obscure, I reply that it is rightly so, but it is the business of the Magisterium to clarify and authoritatively teach with precision its true sense and meaning as well as Tradition. Vatican II did precisley the opposite, ignoring even the Papal magisterium from less than a century ago, adopting a strange new philosophy while abandoning St. Thomas, introducing new and unheard of principles and practices, introducing a hopeless subjectivism in which it is metaphysically impossible to assent, because the subjectivist statements are radically falsifiable, completely reorienting the Church's traditional attitude towards heretical sects and false religions, laying the groundwork for a false ecclesiology that departs from traditional Catholic doctrine, etc.