1964 Awake! - Theocratic Collector.com

ON September 29,
1963, speaking
before more than
2,000 church dignitaries
assembled in
St. Peter's Basilica
in Rome, Pope Paul
VI formally opened
the second session of the Second Ecumenical
Vatican Council. So despite Pope John's
death in June, after which Cardinal Montini
of Milan was elected to the papal
throne, the twenty-first ecumenical council
of the Catholic Church continued on
toward its objectives. Faced with circumstances
calling for internal reform, an
ever-growing non-Catholic population and
the imminent threat of Communism, it is
understandable that the Roman Catholic
Church would want to continue efforts
toward reform and Wlification.
Interestingly, Pope Paul's appeal for reconciliation
with non-Catholics was even
more conciliatory than that of Pope John
when he convened the Council's first session
on October 11 of last year. "There can
be no doubt about the attitude of the Council
with regard to the great numbers of the
separated brethren," Pope Paul said. "The
Council aims at complete and universal
ecumenicity [worldwide interdenominational
fellowship]."
The Roman Catholic Church has been
following this conciliatory line for the past
several years. The terms "heretics" or "dissidents"
have been replaced by "separated
brothers," and some prayers have even
JANUARY 8, 1964
-Milestones in
the Development
of Catholicism
been changed to
eliminate language
offensive
to Jews and
Moslems. Before
his death Pope
John received
unprecedented courtesy calls from such
non-Catholic dignitaries as the archbishop
of Canterbury, the presiding bishop of the
Protestant Episcopal Church of the United
States and the president of the Lutheran
World Federation. Even a leading Communist
representative, Khrushchev's own SODin-law,
was welcomed in Rome.
lt is also noteworthy that the Vatican
sent observers to the assembly of the World
Council of Churches in New Delhi in 1961,
and invited non-Catholics to their present
Council in Rome. In fact, a special Secretariat
for Promoting Christian Unity was
recently established, ahd at the opening of
the Council's second session fifty-two of
these observer-delegates sat with the president
of this new agency in choice seats almost
at the foot of Pope Paul's throne. The
pope warmly welcomed these representatives
from non-Catholic Churches.
But what is behind this conciliatory attitude
of the Roman Catholic Church
toward both the Communists as well as
the non-Catholic churches? What are her
aims? Is she really interested in practicing
the pure Christianity introduced by Jesus
Christ? In order to be in better position
properly to evaluate the motives behind
her present conciliatory policy, let us ex-
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