Cardinal chronicles impact of Vatican II

National Catholic Reporter, March 7, 2003 by Richard P. McBrien

Cardinal Franz Konig, archbishop-emeritus of Vienna, where he served for nearly 30 years, is now 97 years of age and as sharp as the proverbial tack. One of the few leading figures at Vatican II who is still alive, Konig recently shared his personal reflections about the council in the pages of The Tablet, the London-based Catholic weekly (Dec. 21).

According to the Austrian cardinal, "Vatican II set in motion four trail-blazing, creative and lasting stimuli" to church renewal and reform.

The first had to do with the universality of the church. Even apart from what the council actually taught in its 16 documents, the conciliar event itself was a dramatic and compelling manifestation of the church's multicultural and global character. There were bishops of every color and nationality speaking and debating in many languages.

"This multitude of different nationalities and cultures changed our awareness," Konig writes. "The church laid aside its European attire, which many of us were so familiar with, and some even identified with the church itself, and became aware that it was a global church."

This change of consciousness was reflected particularly in the dropping of Latin as the universal language of the church's liturgy in favor of the vernacular.

The second breakthrough was the council's support for ecumenism. The two key catalysts were Pope John XXIII and Cardinal Augustine Bea.

John XXIII had been a papal diplomat for a number of years in Turkey and Bulgaria, where he forged close contacts with the Orthodox and other separated Oriental churches. It was at the pope's insistence that non-Catholic observers were invited to the council as official observers.

In 1960, two and a half years before Vatican II opened, he established the Secretariat (now Council) for Promoting Christian Unity, and appointed as its first president the other key catalyst for ecumenical renewal, Cardinal Bea, the former rector of the prestigious Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome.

According to Konig, "Bea's role at the council cannot be rated highly enough. He and his secretariat took over the responsibility for inviting and looking after the observers, who were by no means passive, as their designation might suggest, but played an increasingly influential role."

The extraordinarily helpful participation of the non-Catholic observers was "first and foremost Cardinal Bea's achievement," Konig insists. After the council was over, Oscar Cullmann, the eminent scripture scholar, acknowledged that the expectations of his fellow Protestants were, for the most part, "fulfilled and even surpassed on many points."

The third important breakthrough wrought by the council was its emphasis on the lay apostolate. Before Vatican II, Konig reminds his younger readers, the church was for all practical purposes a "two-class system," with the hierarchy on top and the laity below.

Against this view, the council insisted that all the baptized are members of the pilgrim people of God and that all share responsibility for the life, mission and ministries of the church--laity as well as clergy and religious.

The fourth breakthrough concerned the relationship between the church and non-Christian religions, especially but not exclusively Judaism.

"The Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions," better known by its Latin title, Nostra Aetate ("In our age"), was the principal conduit for this new and revolutionary approach. Konig refers to this brief document as perhaps the most important declaration of the entire council.

In that document, the council affirmed that the church "rejects nothing of what is true and holy" in other religions and stressed the importance of dialogue with them. The most controversial part of Nostra Aerate, however, concerned the church's relationship to the Jews.

John XXIII had been determined to put an end to accusations that the Catholic church is anti-Semitic and soon after his election as pope in 1958 he asked Bea to consider how the so-called Jewish question could be incorporated into the council.

A small circle was formed, which included Konig himself. Considering the "many crises and continual ups and downs" the declaration endured, the cardinal points out, it was "almost a miracle that it was ever passed at all."

Konig recalls the violent opposition of the Arab world, the Eastern churches, and a "small but vociferous" group of bishops. He received "sacks of letters" from Christians in the Middle East, begging him to oppose any reference to Jews in the declaration, and also many "malicious and defamatory" pamphlets.

After four years, however, the declaration was approved overwhelmingly. The fourth breakthrough had been achieved.

Konig credits others for the council's success; but he, too, belongs on that list.

Fr. Richard McBrien teaches theology at the University of Notre Dame.