Pope Benedict repeatedly reminded us that the normative way for Catholics to analyze the documents of the past (particularly those of the conciliar age) is in the context of a hermeneutic of continuity

Fidelity to Tradition: 

Bl. John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council

By Donald Prudlo, Ph.D.

On Sunday, April 27, along with John Paul II, Pope Francis will canonize the beloved John XXIII, having quickly advanced him through the arduous process of saint-creation. One is tempted to call it the undercard of the match, or perhaps Pope Francis wanted some Italian presence in St. Peter’s square to offset the busloads of Poles descending on the eternal city. In any case, John XXIII was certainly no undercard in his lifetime. He was known as a congenial, pastoral, saintly, and affable man. The son of peasants, he was approachable and relatable in the way that Pius XII was not. This parallel may be instructive today in the apparent disconnect between Benedict and Francis. Like today, the press then made much more of a distinction between Pius and John than was warranted. Like our current Holy Fathers — there’s a Catholic mouthful — they were of one mind in their governance and love of the Church. We must not let the secular press set the narrative, as it has done so often over the last fifty years.

Indeed, if anyone takes care to study the pontificates of Pius and John, he will be struck by two salient facts. In the first place, both were saints. While John’s was of an amenable variety that appealed to the world, Pius’ saintly reserve, austerity, and dedication to the Church were no less holy. Second, and perhaps most surprisingly, Pius XII was somewhat avant-garde, particularly in areas like liturgical development, the Church’s relation to science, and biblical studies. Were that word not so loaded today, one would even call John XXIII a ‘Traditionalist’, especially when compared to Pius. John was wholly dedicated to the corpus of doctrine of the Church. His idea for Vatican II was to make that tradition operative in the life of the world. Far from being a liberal, John did such things as censure theologians, affirm the necessity of heterosexual orientation for seminary study, and solemnly reaffirm the centrality of the Latin language on the eve of the eve of the Council’s convocation.

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