My, my, this is upping the ante.
As is well known, there is a lively discussion about the meaning of Vatican II, about what “hermeneutic” to employ for interpreting it. There are those who emphasize the “newness” of the Council – such as eminent scholar Fr. John O’Malley, SJ. Then there is Pope Benedict XVI and his “hermeneutic of renewal in continuity” which downplays the newness. As far as I know, the heaviest heavy duty scholarship on this is from the “Bologna School,” Alberigo and the rest, and they tend to tend toward the “newness” side.
But now the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Gerhard Muller, has made an astonishing claim: anything but the Pope’s view is heresy!ย As CNS reports,
What Pope Benedict XVI has termed “the hermeneutic of reform, of renewal in continuity” is the “only possible interpretation according to the principles of Catholic theology,” Archbishop Gerhard Muller said in remarks published Nov. 29.
“Outside this sole orthodox interpretation unfortunately exists a heretical interpretation, that is, a hermeneutic of rupture, (found) both on the progressive front and on the traditionalist” side, the archbishop said.
And there you have it.
awr
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