Bologna Speaks: Tradition Is Also Made of "Ruptures

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A Bolognese disciple of Fr. Dossetti, the historian Enrico Morini, joins the dispute. With a surprising analysis that might please the traditionalists more than the innovators. In a POSTSCRIPT the replies of Arzillo e Cavalcoli

by Sandro Magister

ROME, June 21, 2011 – In the grand dispute that has been reignited over how to interpret the changes of the magisterium in history, with special attention to the turning point of Vatican Council II, the enthusiastic proponents of the "rupture" have been silent until now.

Their thesis is that the Council, in its intention to return to the "origins," broke with important elements of the tradition of the Church in the second millennium, in particular with the Western model of Church and papacy produced by the Council of Trent and before that by the Gregorian reform of the eleventh century.

The contribution published further below breaks their silence and dives right into this rereading of history.

Its author is Professor Enrico Morini, an historian who teaches at the University of Bologna, the city that gave its name to the "school" that represents the most advanced point, in the progressive vein, of the interpretation of Vatican Council II as "rupture" with respect to part of tradition.

Morini is a disciple of the monk Giuseppe Dossetti (1913-1996), the founder of this "school" known throughout the world, above all for his monumental history of Vatican II translated into various languages, in addition to having been an influential figure of the Council itself.

But he does not repeat all of his ideas wholesale. On the contrary, his interpretation of the transformation of Vatican Council II will in places displease the "Bolognese" and the progressives in general. For example, where he endorses the restoration of the Mass in the ancient Roman rite promoted by Benedict XVI.

At the same time, however, Morini will also displease many traditionalists. For example, where he writes and explains how the new missal is much more in keeping than the old with the grand liturgical tradition of the Church.

His whole contribution is of interest, for the originality and incisiveness of the analysis and for its particular attention to relations between East and West, as well as the clarity of the writing.

Professor Morini, 64, is a specialist in Eastern Christianity. He teaches the history of the Orthodox Church at the state university of Bologna and in the theological faculty of Emilia Romagna. He is a deacon, and heads the commission for ecumenism of the archdiocese of Bologna.

One of his books, published by Mulino in 2002, was reviewed at the time by www.chiesa:

> L'oriente dell'occidente. Un libro d'oro sull'ortodossia

In the photo at the top, the embrace in Jerusalem, in 1964, between Paul VI and the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, Athenagoras.
Continue reading here: http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1348361?eng=y

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