In his epoch-making speech of December 22, 2005, Pope Benedict XVI introduced the notion that the documents of the Second Vatican Council must be interpreted only according to what he implied to be the hermeneutic of continuity - that is, renewal in continuity with Tradition.
Today, the Pontiff developed this notion in his opening address of the Ecclesial Congress (Convegno Ecclesiale) of the Diocese of Rome. Excerpts:
"The Council was not a rupture which brought a new church into life, but a true and deep renewal of a single subject who develops."According to the Pope, the Council "yielded good fruits", but was distorted by "an interpretive current which, referring to a supposed 'spirit of the Council', intended instead to establish a discontinuity with the Tradition of the Church, confusing, for instance, the objetively existing boundaries between the hierarchy and the lay faithful, observing the Church accordinng to a horizontal cut which excluded the vertical reference to God, in open contrast with Catholic doctrine."
The entire transcript of the address is not yet available online.
