While some Catholics would like to undo the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, others are trying to “build a monument” to it rather than fully live its teachings, Pope Francis has said.
In his homily at an early morning Mass in the chapel of his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae on Tuesday, he said: “The council was a beautiful work of the Holy Spirit, But after 50 years, have we done everything the Holy Spirit in the council told us to do?”
The Pope asked if Catholics have opened themselves to “that continuity of the church’s growth” that the council signified. The answer, he said, is “no.”
Catholics seemed willing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the council’s opening in 1962, he continued, but said they want to do so by “building a monument” rather than by changing anything.
At the same time, Pope Francis told the congregation that there are “voices saying we should go back”. “This is called being hard-headed, this is called wanting to domesticate the Holy Spirit, this is called becoming ‘foolish and slow of heart,'” he added.
Pope Francis ended his homily by encouraging everyone to pray for docility to the Holy Spirit, “to that Spirit who comes to us and urges us forward on the path to holiness.”
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