Author Topic: On the Council - Bishops seek Attack on Communism. (Read 570 times)

Nishant Xavier · « **on:** February 05, 2021, 10:32:14 AM »

From: https://www.holdtotradition.com/on-the-council-bishops-seek-attack-on-communism/

On the Council – “Bishops Seek Attack On Communism”

POSTED ONDECEMBER 22, 2020

Council Fathers gathered in St. Peter’s Basilica
Below is an interesting article from the Times of London in 1965. It records the attempt of some Council Fathers during the second Vatican Council to petition the Pope for a condemnation of communism in the council docuмents. It has been widely acknowledged that schemas condemning atheistic communism were discarded at the opening of the council. This article docuмents how a significant number of bishops sought to address this omission. At the time Bishop Marcel Lefebvre, who would later go on to found the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), was among the signees. His appearance is significant considering the way the crisis in the Church developed in the quarter-century after the close of the council.

“BISHOPS SEEK VATICAN COUNCIL, ATTACK ON COMMUNISM“

From Our Correspondent – ROME, OCT. 21,
“The Pope is considering a petition signed by 450 bishops of the Vatican Ecuмenical Council, calling for the explicit condemnation by the council of atheistic communism on ethical, religious and philosophical grounds. The petition was apparently inspired by Bishop Luigi Carli of Segni, a leader of the ultra-conservative wing in the council.

Representing the views of one-fifth of the council fathers, it was presented last week to the council presidency, which in turn passed it on to the Pope. The council cannot make a special declaration against communism, however, unless the Pontiff approves the inclusion of the subject in the fixed agenda.

Bishop Carli, who is a leader of an organization of like-minded council fathers called Coetus Internationalis Patrurn (the International Group of Council Fathers), circulated a letter to 800 members of the organization. It was signed by Bishop Carli, Bishop de Proenca Sigaud (Brazil) and Bishop Marcel Lefebvre (France).

The letter explained in pungent terms the reasons for condemning communism, and invited the bishops to sign the petition.

DANGER OF SILENCE

To remain silent, it said, would be tantamount to ‘”minimizing the danger and intrinsic gravity of communism, and the Church could be charged with opportunism and fear”.

It is thought unlikely that the council will make an explicit condemnation of communism, especially in view Qf the difficulties encountered in phrasing the section on atheism in the still to be approved Schema,13. When put to the vote two weeks ago that docuмent avoided any explicit condemnation, and used the Word “reprove” instead of “condemn “.” (1)

It’s hard to doubt that this omission was a missed opportunity for the Church and the world, especially in light of Fatima and the subsequent advance of communism. Many speculate that if Vatican II had indeed gone ahead and committed itself to a full-fledged condemnation of communism then it would have likely accelerated the ideologies decline within the regimes where it was present. This is certainly plausible considering the council closed in the fall of 1965 as the Soviet Union was entering into a period of stagnation which was later acknowledged as such by Gorbachev. With current anxieties looming large all we can do with the silence of the council is look back and wonder what might have been.

(1) Times Correspondent. (1965) ‘Bishops Seek Vatican Council Attack On Communism’,
The Times, 22 October, p. 11.

Meg · « **Reply #1 on:** February 05, 2021, 11:55:53 AM »

It's good to see an article which shows the opposition of many bishops at the council toward ƈσmmυɳιsm, and that they signed the petition which stated that ƈσmmυɳιsm should be condemned at the council. The docuмent was signed by 450 bishops.

The article mentions the study group which was called 'Coetus Internationalis Patrum,' and this was the group which put together the petition. The article says that Archbishop Lefebvre was a part of the group, but it doesn't make mention of the fact that Archbishop Lefebvre also founded the group, with help from Bp. Sigaud and Bp. Antonio Castro de Mayer, and it was Bp. Castro de Mayer who presented the petition to the council.

Here's a little more info from an article originally posted by the Angelus Press in 1991, which is a biography of Bp. Castro de Mayer after his death in 1991. He died four weeks after Archbishop Lefebvre died.

Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer - District of the USA (sspx.org)

CathInfo.com

Author Topic: On the Council - Bishops seek Attack on Communism. (Read 570 times)

Nishant Xavier

On the Council - Bishops seek Attack on Communism.

Meg

Re: On the Council - Bishops seek Attack on ƈσmmυɳιsm.