Pope Leo XIV and Vatican II
In his first address to the College of Cardinals, Pope Leo noted the following:
“I would like us to renew together today our complete commitment to the path that the universal Church has now followed for decades in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. Pope Francis masterfully and concretely set it forth in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, from which I would like to highlight several fundamental points: the return to the primacy of Christ in proclamation (cf. No. 11); the missionary conversion of the entire Christian community (cf. No. 9); growth in collegiality and synodality (cf. No. 33); attention to the sensus fidei (cf. Nos. 119-120), especially in its most authentic and inclusive forms, such as popular piety (cf. No. 123); loving care for the least and the rejected (cf. No. 53); courageous and trusting dialogue with the contemporary world in its various components and realities (cf. No. 84; Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 1-2).”
These are evangelical principles that have always inspired and guided the life and activity of God’s Family.
This quote is interesting for several reasons. First, the Pope has announced he will take up the mantle of the Second Vatican Council. This is not a surprising decision. However, what it is interesting is his decision to tie together aspects of the Council and Pope Francis and present them as a united whole.
Pope Leo, in effect, has decided to apply what Pope Benedict XVI referred to as a “hermeneutic of continuity,” to Pope Francis's pontificate, by highlighting Francis’s continuity with several aspects of Counciliar teaching and pledging to carry forward those teachings in the forthcoming Leonine pontificate.
Notably, Leo did not declare an intention to carry on Vatican II and act as if Francis's pontificate never happened. Additionally, he did not declare an intention to carry on the teachings of Pope Francis as if Vatican II never happened. Unfortunately, it has been reported in several places, that Pope Leo has declared an intent to carry on the legacy of Pope Francis, which can create the misleading impression that he is merely a clone of his predecessor.
To be sure, Pope Leo has declared his continuity with the Franciscan pontificate. However, this continuity does not begin and end with Francis, and, as he noted, encompasses all the post-counciliar Popes, including Benedict XVI and John Paul II. Furthermore, as if to counter the perception that the Church somehow began with Vatican II, he further noted that “These are evangelical principles that have always inspired and guided the life and activity of God’s Family.”
In addition to presenting the pontificate of Francis through the prism of Benedict XVI's hermeneutic of continuity, Leo has also applied the same lens to Vatican II itself, just as Benedict did at the start of his own pontificate, 20 years ago.
In other words, Pope Leo does not believe Vatican II was a point of rupture from the pre-counciliar Church and its teachings. He, like Benedict, believes the council must be interpreted in light of all that went before it. This is a matter which I hope he will elaborate upon in future documents.
An unfortunate tendency which gained steam under the pontificate of Francis among some conservative-minded Catholics was to view Vatican II as a point of rupture with prior Church teaching which must be viewed skeptically and/or rejected outright. In that light, some of those Catholics may view Benedict as hopelessly trying to piece together two irreconcilable parts, namely the pre-counciliar and post-counciliar Church.
Hopefully, Pope Leo will dispel this skepticism/rejection of Vatican II by loudly and proudly proclaiming the hermeneutic of continuity. By embracing what has has always inspired and guided the Church and affirming that this line of teaching did not end or begin with Vatican II, Leo will show that one can indeed be a true traditionalist and a true counciliarist.
The hermeneutic of continuity is the only way forward.