Yesterday I quickly made a translation,
(
http://www.cathinfo.com/catholic.php?a=topic&t=23455&f=19&min=5&num=5 )
which was not perfect as I am not a native English speaker (and thank you for pointing out some mistakes).
The Recusant also provided a translation, this time by a native English speaker,
(
http://www.therecusant.com/doctrinalpreamble-15apr2012 )
but it missed a few nuances or grammatical points, as well as a few theological ones (assent, deposit of faith, etc.), and embellished a bit the text.
This declaration is utterly important. Furthermore, being a tentative canonical text, each comma or nuance makes a difference. A very accurate and reliable translation is much needed.
So I have used the Recusant's translation to improve mine, producing hopefully a very reliable translation. I have not improved the imperfections (style, textual inconsistencies, manner of citing / absence of italics, etc.) of the original docuмent.
To express the redundant use of two different words (magistère/ Magisterium) in the original French when there only a single equivalent word in English, I have use a variation of lowercase and uppercase for the English word magisterium:
magistère --> magisterium
Magisterium -->
Magisterium
DOCTRINAL DECLARATION FROM APRIL 15, 2012, WHICH MGR FELLAY SENT TO CARDINAL LEVADA
I
We plight to always be faithful to the Catholic Church and to the Roman Pontiff, her supreme pastor, Christ's vicar, successor of Peter and head of the body of bishops.
II
We declare that we accept the teachings of the Church's magisterium re. matters of faith and morals, giving to each doctrinal statement the required degree of assent, according to the doctrine contained in item 25 of the Lumen Gentium dogmatic constitution of the Second Vatican Council (1).
III In particular:
1 We declare accepting the doctrine re. the Roman Pontiff and the College of bishops, with its head, the Pope, as taught by the Pastor Aeternus dogmatic constitution of the First Vatican Council and by the Lumen Gentium dogmatic constitution of the Second Vatican Council, chapter 3 (De constitutione hierarchica Ecclesiæ et in specie de episcopatu), explained and interpreted by the Nota explicativa prævia to this very chapter.
2 We recognize the authority of the Magisterium to which alone is entrusted the task of authentically interpreting the Word of God written or handed down (2) in faithfulness to the Tradition, remembering that « the Holy Spirit was not promised to Peter's successors so that they may make known, under his revelation, a new doctrine, but so that, with His assistance, they may keep in a holy manner and faithfully express the revelation handed over by the Apostles, i.e. the deposit of faith » (3).
3 The Tradition is the living transmission of the Revelation « usque ad nos » (4) and the Church in its doctrine, in its life and in its cult, perpetuates and transmits to all generations what it is and all what She believes. The Tradition progresses within the Church with the assistance of the Holy Spirit (5), not as a contrary novelty (6) but through a better understanding of the depositum fidei (7).
4 The entire Tradition of the Catholic faith must be the criterion and the guide for understanding the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, which in turn illuminates – i.e. deepens and further makes explicit– some aspects of the life and of the doctrine of the Church, implicitly present in her midst or not yet conceptually formulated (8).
5 The statements of the Second Vatican Council and of the later pontifical magisterium re. the relationship between the Catholic Church and the non-Catholic Christian confessions, as well as re. the social duty of religion and the right to religious freedom, whose formulation is difficult to reconcile with the former doctrinal statements of the Magisterium, must be understood in the light of the entire and uninterrupted Tradition, in a manner consistent with the truths previously taught by the Church's magisterium, without accepting any interpretation of these statements which may lead to expound the Catholic doctrine in opposition or in rupture with the Tradition and with this Magisterium.
6 This is why it is legitimate to promote through a legitimate discussion the study and the theological explanation of expressions and of formulations of the Second Vatican Council and of the consecutive magisterium, in the case where it appears that they cannot be reconciled with the previous Church's Magisterium (9).
7 We declare that we recognise the validity of the sacrifice of the Mass and of the Sacraments celebrated with the intent of doing what the Church does according the rites referred to in the typical editions of the Roman Missal and the Sacramental Ritual legitimately promulgated by popes Paul VI and Jean-Paul II.
8 By following the criteria set out above (III, 5), as well as canon 21 of the Code, we plight to respect the Church's common discipline and the ecclesiastical laws, especially those contained in the Code of Canon Law promulgated by pope John-Paul II (1983) in the Code of Canon Law of the Eastern Churches promulgated by the same Pontiff (1990), reserving the right of a discipline to be conceded to the Society of Saint Pius X by a particular law.
—————————————–
Notes--
(1) See the new formula for the Profession of the faith and the oath of fidelity for assuming a charge exercised in the name of the Church, 1989; cf. Code of Canon Law, canon 749; 750, §1 and §2; 752; CCEO canon 597; 598, §1 and §2; 599.
(2) See Pius XII, Humani Generis encyclical.
(3) Vatican I, Dogmatic Constitution, Pastor aeternus, Dz. 3070.
(4) Council of Trent, Dz. 1501: “All saving truth and rules of conduct (Matt. 16:15) are contained in the written books and in the unwritten traditions, which, received by the Apostles from the mouth of Christ Himself, or from the Apostles themselves,[3] the Holy Ghost dictating, have come down to us, transmitted as it were from hand to hand.”
(5) Cf. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum, 8 and 9, Denz. 4209-4210.
(6) Vatican I, Dogmatic Constitution Dei Filius, Dz. 3020: “Hence, also, that understanding of its sacred dogmas must be perpetually retained, which Holy Mother Church has once declared; and there must never be recession from that meaning under the specious name of a deeper understanding "Therefore […] let the understanding, the knowledge, and wisdom of individuals as of all, of one man as of the whole Church, grow and progress strongly with the passage of the ages and the centuries; but let it be solely in its own genus, namely in the same dogma, with the same sense and the same understanding.'' [Vincent of Lerins, Commonitorium, 28].”
(7) Vatican I, Dogmatic Constitution Dei Filius, Dz. 3011; Anti-modernist Oath, § 4; Pius XII, Encyclical Letter Humani Generis, Dz 3886; Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum, 10, Dz. 4213.
(8) E.g. like the teaching on the sacramentality of the episcopacy in Lumen Gentium, § 21.
(9) There is a parallel in history in the Decree for the Armenians of the Council of Florence, where the porrection of the instruments was indicated as the matter of the sacrament of Holy Orders. Nevertheless theologians legitimately discussed, even after this decree, the accuracy of such an assertion. Finally the issue was resolved in another way by Pope Pius XII.
Topic: New, very accurate reliable translation of Fellays Doctrinal Statement (Read 6181 times)