More of "10 Critical Issues Facing the Next Pope" offered by old Vatican hand: clearing up Vatican 2 "ambiguities" and reforming the Jesuits . . .
From the author in 2020 of "The Next Pope, the Leading Cardinal Candidates" with nothing in it about a man, not yet a cardinal and nobody's choice, named Prevost . . .
He names two major issues, Clarification of Vatican II and reform of the Jesuits:
Closely connected with the first critical issue [“Return to a Papacy as Source of Sound Doctrine and Unity”] is a need for the next pope to clear up ambiguities regarding the Second Vatican Council, or at least tackle this concern which has grown in recent years.
On July 26, 2017, Bishop Athanasius Schneider, auxiliary bishop of Astana in Kazahkstan, published a column in the Corrispondenza Romana on . . . the interpretation of Vatican II and the current . . . unprecedented crisis the Church is going through that . . . “comparable with the general crisis in the 4th century, when Arianism had contaminated the overwhelming majority of the episcopacy”.
We are in deep water, said this bishop. He continued:
The Council has long been interpreted in ways which many stress differ from those intended by the Council fathers, and this became especially apparent during Francis’ pontificate.
Francis especially got it wrong, he said.
Back to Clarification of Vatican II:
The ambiguity has often been blamed on a lack of clarity in interpreting the teachings of the Council which have themselves often been criticized for not being clear enough.
Criticized? Yes:
It is generally acknowledged, and well documented that many ambiguities exist within the Vatican II documents [1], [2], [3]. These ambiguities were deliberate [!] and have had significant consequences for the Church.
. . . the origin and traceability of these ambiguities are [here] identified and analyzed. The risks associated with them and some of their consequences are discussed, especially with regard to some aspects of the Liturgy and Ecumenism . . .
As to reform of the Jesuits:
Part of this return to clarity of teaching could also entail some kind of reform of the Jesuit Order. In his Demos Memorandum, Cardinal George Pell called for such a reform given the prevailing heterodoxy in the Society of Jesus and catastrophic decline in terms of vocations to the Order. “The Jesuit charism and contribution have been and are so important to the Church that they should not be allowed to pass away into history undisturbed,” the memo said.
More specifically:
. . . serious consideration should be given to the feasibility of a visitation on the Jesuit Order. . . . in a situation of catastrophic numerical decline from 36,000 members during the Council to less than 16,000 in 2017 (with probably 20-25% above 75 years of age). In some places, there is catastrophic moral decline. [?]
The order is highly centralized, susceptible to reform or damage from the top. The Jesuit charism and contribution have been and are so important to the Church that they should not be allowed to pass away into history undisturbed or become simply an Asian-African community. [?]
Saints preserve us.
Coming up? More from Edward Pentin’s 10 Critical Issues Facing the Next Pope — 5/4/25 . . . that is, restoring “Traditional Papal Governance and Collegiality to the College of Bishops and Cardinals.” Stay tuned.