Keynote speaker at meeting of cardinals, theologians sees ‘unprecedented’ rebellion against Vatican II in US | News Headlines

CWN Editor’s Note: 70 cardinals, bishops, and theologians gathered recently to discuss Pope Francis and the Church in the United States. The National Catholic Reporter has now published the keynote address, delivered by Massimo Faggioli, a theology professor at Villanova University.

“What we have seen during the last nine years in the Church in the US, in terms of opposition to Pope Francis, defies imagination and has also distorted our expectations about the Church in dangerous ways,” said Faggioli. “We have witnessed unprecedented, rebellious challenges — sometimes coming from members of the clergy — to the legitimacy of the bishop of Rome that are clearly incompatible with the sensus ecclesiae” [sensus ecclesiae].

“It’s a phenomenon not limited to social media. It’s something fundamentally different from the ‘dissent’ against some aspects of papal teaching that we have seen under Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI,” he continued. “And it’s something that must be denounced for what it really is, without tactical silences and without complacency.”

“The neoconservative and neo-traditionalist voices within the US episcopate felt orphaned suddenly on Feb. 11, 2013, when Benedict XVI announced his resignation,” Faggioli added. “There were orphans of Benedict’s pontificate in the Roman Curia, among bishops, theologians and politicians. But this sense of loss was particularly acute in the US.”

After denouncing criticism of Pope Francis, Faggioli implicitly criticized the Pope for assuring the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter that its members could continue to celebrate the sacred liturgy according to the 1962 liturgical books.

“Especially around Traditionis Custodes and the liturgical issue in light of the ecclesiology of the liturgical reform, there have been some mixed and confusing signals from the Holy See in recent months,” said Faggioli.

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