"After the Second Vatican Council, the impression arose that the pope really could do anything in liturgical matters, especially if he were acting on the mandate of an ecumenical council. Eventually, the idea of the givenness of the liturgy, the fact that one cannot do with it what one will, faded from the public consciousness of the West. In fact, the First Vatican Council had in no way defined the pope as an absolute monarch. On the contrary, it presented him as the guarantor of obedience to the revealed Word. The pope's authority is bound to the Tradition of faith, and that also applies to the liturgy. It is not "manufactured" by the authorities. Even the pope can only be a humble servant of its lawful development and abiding integrity and identity. ... The authority of the pope is not unlimited; it is at the service of Sacred Tradition... . The greatness of the liturgy depends - we shall have to repeat this frequently — on its unspontaneity."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Pope Benedict XVI, The Spirit of the Liturgy (2000)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Second_Vatican_Council
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Second Vatican Council
10 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Second Vatican Council →
Related Quotes
"It is difficult to realize that three years have elapsed since Your Holiness announced that you planned to convene an…"
"In the face of staggering problems which, from the human point of view, seem at times to be almost insoluble, people …"
"We have never said that the Council had directly professed heresies. But the wall of protection against error was rem…"
"I was a member of the preparatory commissions appointed by Pope John XXIII, and together with the other members—disti…"
"Interviewer: By saying this, aren't we running the risk of undermining the Holy Spirit's assistance to the Council? M…"
"Interviewer: You have a certain tendency to see conspiracies everywhere. Five days before being suspended a divinis, …"
"Lately, I have been given documents that appear to be completely true, documents that show the correspondence between…"
"The Catechism so often refers to it that it might well be called the Catechism of the Second Vatican Council. The con…"
"I would like us to renew today our full commitment to the path that the universal Church has been following for decad…"
"Christianity spreads in two ways: through conversion and through secularisation."