Cardinal suenens and the issue of control of births in. The restoration of unity among all christians is one of the principal concerns of the second vatican council. Request pdf cardinal suenens and the question of birth control at the vatican council ii from 1958 to 1968, cardinal l. Cardinal leo jozef suenens, former archbishop of brusselsmalines, the primatial diocese of belgium, was arguably the single most effective promoter of change within the roman catholic church. From 1947 until his death he held various offices in the roman curia, including secretary general of the second vatican council, head of the pontifical commission for the revision of the code of canon law, and from 1977 prefect of the supreme tribunal of the apostolic signatura. Leo joseph cardinal suenens, whose public and behindthescenes leadership at the second vatican council made him a major architect of 20th.
Unquestionably the lukan reference puts vatican ii in conjunction with pentecost. Events at the second vatican council by christopher mcmahon any account of the achievement of vatican ii has to include at least a brief narrative of the events that took place at the council. The west, the argument went, wanted to control poor people and reduce their numbers. For the past two weeks, i have been immersed in what i am convinced is the definitive biography of the vatican ii, the second vatican council. Pope benedict xvi marked the 50th anniversary of the councils opening and kicked off the year of faith with an oct. After all, vatican ii is not simply a set of documents. Pope john paul ii himself later attested that cardinal suenens had played a. No event of the 20th century produced a greater effect upon the catholic church than vatican ii, the 21st ecumenical council.
Im juni 1944 geriet er kurzzeitig in deutsche kriegsgefangenschaft. Now that his vatican ii archives have become available, it has become possible to discover the means he used and the man. Aportes del cardenal suenens al concilio vaticano ii. These two contrasting directions were recognised most prominently in the church doctrines of the dogmatic. Who was who at vatican ii the voices of council fathers.
Madrigal, recuerdos y esperanzas del cardenal suenens, en. Text of cardinal suenens on marriage, family vatican ii. Pericle felici 1 august 1911 22 march 1982 was an italian prelate of the catholic church. Suenens was responsible for the division that resulted in the creation of the new diocese of antwerp. The archbishop of brussels, belgium for almost all of the 1960s and 1970s, and a looming figure at vatican ii. The second ecumenical council of the vatican, commonly known as the second vatican council or vatican ii, addressed relations between the catholic church and the modern world. Council fathers of vatican ii vatican ii voice of the. Contributions to vatican ii authorstream presentation. Mattei is no meager polemicist, and though his book supports many of the ideas proposed by catholic traditionalists, his book is by no means a traddy diatribe. Ecclesia ad intra and ecclesia ad extra the vatican. The following text of cardinal suenens is quite simple. Vatican ii brought an end to the era of christendom, the counterreformation, and vatican i nov 14, 2018 brian kelly brother andre marie too bad so many of the scientists who study monarch butterflies miss the divine forest for the darwinian trees. To complement the voice of the popes there follows a brief selection of the views of some important fathers on the need for vatican ii and its importance cardinal augustin bea sj 18811968 cardinal bea was indeed one of the giants of vatican ii, a scripture scholar, but best known for his presidency of the secretariat for. Second vatican council description, history, documents.
Komonchak, a professor of theology at catholic university in washington. Cardinal suenens rejects the church tradition in action. Cardinal suenens was one of the most important prelates who played a decisive role in the second vatican council. Concilio vaticano ii y ia iglesia universal ie debe mucho2. The new york times obituary of cardinal suenens on may 7, 1996 read, apart from pope john xxiii and pope paul vi, cardinal suenens would rank among the two or three most important leaders of the council, according to rev. Leon joseph cardinal suenens belgian cardinal britannica. Leon joseph cardinal suenens, belgian prelate who, as a moderator of the second vatican council 196265, was instrumental in effecting liberal change within the roman catholic church, though many of his later proposals, including the acceptance of birth control, were rejected b. Hope is not a dream but a way of bringing things into reality. Cardinal leon jozef suenens, charismatic, freemason and. Leo jozef suenens 16 july 1904 6 may 1996 was a belgian prelate of the roman catholic church. He also affirms that the council carried on the current that followed modernism.
Request pdf on oct 1, 2010, leo declerck and others published cardinal suenens and the issue of control of births in vatican council ii find, read and cite all the research you need on. The nun in the world symposium gets underway this thursday at the london global gateway. Pope john xxiii named him a cardinal in 1962, and soon after a member of the central commission for vatican ii. Cardinal leo josef suenens officially introduced the distinction between the church ecclesia ad intra and the church ecclesia ad extra, with the former pertaining to the internal workings of the church and the latter, applying to the churchs connection with the external world.
It was cardinal suenens who exclaimed, vatican ii is the french revolution in the church and among other unguarded declarations he added one cannot understand the french or the russian revolutions unless one knows something of the old regimes which they brought to an end. He strongly, frontally and clearly states that vatican ii broke with the past of the catholic church. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the charismatic renewal movement in its early days when it created massive confusion in the minds of ordinary catholics, blurring the lines with protestantism. He was the man who proposed setting aside the more than 70 conservative schemas that had been prepared for the council and replaced them with the 18 progressivist ones, which became the basis for the 16 final documents of vatican council ii. Suenens, in his memoires on vatican ii a 69page text dictated by the belgian cardinal right after the council that contains his personal memoirs and constitutes the documents 2784 and 2785 of. He survived almost five years as a pow in world war ii and was a major influence on archbishop karol wojtyla, who as pope john paul ii made him a cardinal in 1994. Pope john xxiii convened the second vatican council in st. Why rebellion against humanae vitae is tied to vatican ii. Suenens 19041996 lead a long struggle in order to obtain a change. Cardinal suenens and the question of birth control at the.
He served as archbishop of mechelenbrussel from 1961 to 1979, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1962. Il laisse limage dun homme qui avait compris lair du temps. The vatican was able to keep the flock wary of modern birth control in part by linking it to colonialism. The council, through the holy see, was formally opened under the pontificate of pope john xxiii on 11 october 1962 and was closed under pope paul vi on the solemnity of the immaculate conception on 8 december 1965.
The council that transformed and defined the church editors note. Most important, descriptive comparison of vatican ii ve. To many it might seem to have been simply a meeting of important churchmen gathered to discuss church matters, but because the catholic church is the only church founded on this earth by god himself to guide men to salvation, the reality is that centuries. Suenens was a leading voice at the second vatican council and advocated. Discours du cardinal suenens au concile vatican ii page. How the vatican almost embraced birth control mother jones. A jesuit silenced from 1950 to 1956, he was a prolific scholar associated with the nouvelle theologie new theology school. En 1964, en pleno concilio vaticano ii, propugno fuertemente una espiritualidad y. He served as archbishop of mechelenbrussel from 1961 to 1979, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1962 suenens was a leading voice at the second vatican council and advocated aggiornamento in the church. This is a translation of the latinlanguage address made by leo cardinal suenens of malinesbrussels oct. Discours du cardinal suenens au concile vatican ii diaconat. Tx0021861contentevents at the second vatican council. Suenens 19041996 lead a long struggle in order to obtain a change in the catholic churchs attitude to contraception.
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