Rev. Ralph Wiltgen: The Rhine Flows Into the Tiber: A History of Vatican II

[Stone]

THE THIRD SESSION
September 14 to November 21, 1964

THE PRELIMINARY EXPLANATORY NOTE

The most important and dramatic battle which took place at the Second Vatican Council was not the widely publicized controversy over religious liberty, but the one over collegiality, which happened mostly behind the scenes. The drama was caused by controversy over the true and proper way in which collegiality was to be understood in Chapter 3 of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. There were three interpretations of collegiality:

According to the first, the college of bishops did not exercise supreme power by divine right, but only by human right. That meant that it rested with the Pope to make the episcopal college the subject of supreme power, for example by convening an ecumenical council. According to this explanation, the Pope alone enjoyed supreme power, by divine right. That was the conservative stand.

According to the second, or extreme, interpretation, which was defended and promoted by some liberals, the only subject of supreme power was the college of bishops together with its head, the Pope. The Pope could exercise supreme power; but in so doing, he would be acting only as head of the college, or, in other words, only in so far as he represented the college. He would be bound in conscience to request the opinion of the college of bishops before making a pronouncement because, as representative of the college, he was obliged to express the thinking of the college.

According to the third, or moderate, interpretation, which was held by Pope Paul and other liberal Council Fathers, the Pope personally was the subject of supreme power in the Church, and also the college of bishops when united to its head, the Pope. In this hypothesis, the consent of the Pope was necessary as an essential constituent element of the supreme power of the college. In other words, the Pope possessed supreme power by divine right and was always free to use it; while the episcopal college possessed supreme power by divine right but was not always free to use it. Since the college was obliged to act with and under its head, the Pope, it was dependent upon the Pope in using its supreme power. In this way, the unity of the supreme authority in the Church was not impaired.

Pope Paul, first as a priest and later as Cardinal-Archbishop of Milan, had thoroughly studied the hierarchical structure of the Church and also the problem of collegiality. As Pope, he kept abreast of the latest theological literature and developments in this field. In the official archives for the preparatory period of the Council, his name can be found on documents requesting a determination of the powers and charisms proper to bishops in the government of the Church, according to the will of Christ. After he became Pope, he informed the Theological Commission of his views and got the impression that it shared them.

Collegiality was discussed in the Council hall at great length during the second session, in 1963. The Theological Commission established a sub-commission on collegiality which worked so rapidly that, by March 6, 1964, the revised text on collegiality was ready. It was later submitted to Pope Paul, but he was not satisfied with it, and, on May 19, 1964, had the Secretary General forward some suggestions which he wished the Theological Commission to take into consideration, stating that it was free to adopt them or not at its next plenary session, scheduled for June 5.

On May 27, the Secretary General wrote to Father Benjamin Wambacq, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission on Biblical Studies, on behalf of Pope Paul, asking for urgent replies to two questions. The first was whether, according to the Pontifical Commission, the following text in the schema could be proved from Scripture: “Just as, by the Lord’s will, St. Peter and the other apostles constituted one apostolic college, so in a similar way the Roman Pontiff, as the successor of Peter, and the bishops, as the successors of the apostles, are joined together.”

In reply, the Pontifical Commission ruled, at a meeting of May 31, that, whereas the first part of the statement (up to the word “college”) could be proved from Scripture, the rest could not be proved from Scripture alone.

The second was whether it could be said, from the Scriptural passages indicated in the following statement, that the office of binding and loosing, granted to Peter alone, belonged also to the college of apostles, in the sense defined in the schema: “The power of binding and loosing, which was given to Peter (Mt. 16:19), was granted also to the college of apostles, joined with their head (Mt. 18:18).” The Pontifical Commission replied that the power of binding and loosing referred to in both passages seemed to be the same, but that it did not follow that this power was “supreme and full over the entire Church” as the schema indicated.

These replies were referred to the Theological Commission for consideration at its meeting on June 5. The Commission also discussed Pope Paul’s eleven suggestions, seven of which referred to collegiality. The Commission incorporated eight of the suggestions and a part of another in its text. With regard to the decisions of the Pontifical Commission on Biblical Studies, the Theological Commission ruled that they did not necessitate any alteration in the two passages of the schema concerned. The revised text was approved by Pope Paul on July 3 as a basis for further discussion, and mailed to the Council Fathers.

, By July 28, Archbishop Staffa, of the Curia, had ready a lengthy study on the two newly revised schemas on the Church and on bishops, which he circulated to the Council Fathers. Referring to the sections on collegiality in both schemas, he expressed the deep conviction “that these propositions are opposed to the more common teaching of the saintly Fathers, of the Roman Pontiffs, of provincial synods, of the holy Doctors of the Universal Church, of theologians and of canonists. They are also contrary to century-old norms of ecclesiastical discipline.” The Archbishop quoted from the theological works of an Italian Jesuit, Father Giovanni Bolgeni (1733-1811) and commented that “the fundamental positions of Bolgeni and those of the schema on the Church are substantially identical.”

He considered it extraordinary that, after 140 years, Bolgeni’s principles, which theologians and canonists had long been “unanimous in rejecting as unacceptable and foreign to the sound tradition of the Church,” should now suddenly be accepted as the foundations of a Council schema. He maintained that the schema deprived the Pope of his personal supreme power, and limited his primacy to serving as moderator for the bishops, in whom, according to the schema, the supreme power was vested.

The day after the opening of the third session, Archbishop Staffa had a list of more than seventy names which he submitted to the Cardinal Moderators with the request to be allowed to address the general assembly before the voting began on the important Chapter 3, on collegiality. He appealed to Article 57, Section 6, of the Rules of Procedure, under which, even after discussion had ended on a specific topic, the minority view was entitled to “designate three speakers . . . who would also be given the privilege of exceeding ten minutes,” provided the request was made in the name of at least seventy other Council Fathers. Archbishop Staffa’s petition was not granted.

The voting on the third chapter took place from September 21 to 29. Eight of the ballots concerned Article 22, on collegiality, and 0£ three separate ballots over 300 negative votes were cast. In an over-all vote on collegiality, the result was 1624 affirmative votes, 572 qualified affirmative votes and 42 negative votes. Many of the qualifications submitted on this ballot had been prepared by the International Group of Fathers, which numbered Archbishop Staffa among its collaborators.

The subcommission on collegiality of the Theological Commission worked hard comparing these qualifications with one another and with the text of the schema. The work was completed in about a month because of the very large number of periti. The membership was as follows: Archbishop Parente of the Curia, Archbishop Florit of Florence, Bishop Schroffer of Eichstatt, Bishop Hermann Volk of Mainz, Auxiliary Bishop Heuschen of Liege and Auxiliary Bishop Henriquez Jimenez of Caracas. The periti were Fathers Rahner, Ratzinger, Salaverri, Schauf, Smulders, Thils, Betti, Dhanis, D’Ercole, Gagnebet, Lambruschini, Maccarrone and Moeller.

Before the work was completed, Archbishop Staffa and the leaders of the International Group of Fathers heard that their qualifications were being ignored by the subcommission on collegiality, whereas others, which were believed to be “less important,” were being incorporated in the text. Whereupon Archbishop Staffa composed a lengthy letter to Pope Paul, dated November 7, 1964, copies of which were given to twelve active members of his group, each of whom passed the text on to twelve other Council Fathers, inviting them to read and sign it. This project became known as “Operation Staffa ”

Because it was rumored that the Theological Commission’s report on the revision of the schema was already in the press, the canvassing of signatures had to be cut short. The letter informed the Pope that all who had signed it were convinced that an extreme form of collegiality was contained in the schema, and that they would feel bound in conscience to vote against it. Archbishop Staffa charged that he had been illegally refused permission to speak on the subject by the Moderators.

On receiving the letter, Pope Paul called for an official investigation of this and other alleged violations of Council procedure, and he passed on the theological views stated in the letter to the Theological Commission, for its consideration.

Meanwhile, thirty-five cardinals and the superiors general of five very large religious orders had written to the Pope stating that, while the text on collegiality in the schema had the appearance of presenting the moderate liberal view, it was in fact ambiguous, and might, after the close of the Council, be interpreted according to the extreme liberal view.

The Pope found it difficult to believe this, and sent a reply to the cardinal whose name headed the list, attacking the arguments given in the letter. Whereupon the Cardinal went to see the Pope, on behalf of the others in his group, and explained the grounds for their suspicions. But the Pope took no action.

The Cardinal then suggested that the theologians of his group be allowed to debate the issue in the Holy Father’s presence with his theologians, but the Holy Father did not agree to this plan. He asked the Cardinal, however, to name the theologians of his group, and when he named three, the Pope at once became visibly disturbed, since they were well known and he esteemed them highly. Again he took no action, recalling that the text on collegiality had been accepted by far more than the required majority. Before casting their votes, he said, the Council Fathers had certainly given the matter deep study and devoted much prayer to it. The Cardinal excused himself for remarking that he could not wholeheartedly share these sentiments. But the Pope still took no action because of his great faith in the Theological Commission.

Then one of the extreme liberals made the mistake of referring, in writing, to some of these ambiguous passages, and indicating how they would be interpreted after the Council. This paper fell into the hands of the aforesaid group of cardinals and superiors general, whose representative took it to the Pope. Pope Paul, realizing finally that he had been deceived, broke down and wept.

, What was the remedy? Since the text of the schema did not positively make any false assertion, but merely used ambiguous terms, the ambiguity could be clarified by joining to the text a carefully phrased explanation. This was the origin of the Preliminary Explanatory Note appended to the schema.

On November io, 1964, Pope Paul without delay instructed his Secretary of State to write to Cardinal Ottaviani, stating that there were still some points in the schema which ought to be more precisely phrased. In particular, he wished it to be expressly stated that a necessary and essential constituent of the collegial authority of the bishops was the consent of the Roman Pontiff. Enclosed in the letter were further specific proposals for changes which would make the text clearer and which, the Pope insisted, must be incorporated in the text before he could give it his support and promulgate it. And in order to make absolutely sure that, after the Council, no one could possibly place the extreme liberal interpretation upon the concept of collegiality, the Theological Commission must prepare a Preliminary Explanatory Note to precede this particular chapter. The note and the suggested changes, the letter said, would reassure many Council Fathers and make possible a more extensive acceptance of the text. A special study on collegiality by Father Wilhelm Bertrams, S.J., was also enclosed in the letter. 

The amendments called for by the Pope had already been requested by large numbers of Council Fathers who had submitted qualifications with their affirmative votes. Previously, however, the Theological Commission had always overruled them, stating that the qualifications were contrary to the wishes of the majority. Now, at the insistence of Pope Paul, some of the suggested changes were incorporated in the body of the schema. The Theological Commission also drafted the prescribed note, and sent it to the Pope, who made some revisions in it before giving it his approval.

On Saturday, November 14, the booklet containing the qualifications submitted by Council Fathers on Chapter 3, together with the replies of the Theological Commission, as well as the Explanatory Note, was distributed in the Council hall. The note was believed to be an addition spontaneously made by the Commission, since it began, “The Commission decrees that the following general observations should precede the evaluation of the qualifications.”

In the forty-eight hours that followed, there was much discussion among Council Fathers and periti as to the significance of this note. Some maintained that it changed the teaching contained in the schema. Others maintained that, because the explanations were contained in a note and not in the text, they did not change the schema.

On Monday, November 16, the Secretary General made three important announcements addressed to all the Council Fathers, including the Council Presidency and the Cardinal Moderators. The first two—although this was not stated—referred to the letter of November 7 prepared by Archbishop Staffa. The third referred to the Explanatory Note. The Secretary General, using Curial terminology, referred to the Pope as the “Superior
Authority.”

In the first announcement, he said that some Fathers had complained to the Superior Authority that, in the discussion and voting on Chapter 3 of the schema on the Church, the regulations governing procedure had not been observed; the same Fathers were filled with anxiety and had raised certain doubts about the doctrine expounded in that chapter. The matter had been carefully examined, he said, and the Council Fathers concerned might rest assured that there had been no violation of the Rules of Procedure. As for doubts concerning the doctrine contained in Chapter 3, these had been referred to the Theological Commission, and duly examined.

The second announcement concerned the assent which all members of the Church were expected to give to the teaching contained in this chapter: The teaching, according to this announcement, was not to be considered an infallible definition or dogma, but to be accepted on the supreme teaching authority of the Church.

The third announcement was as follows: “Finally, the Fathers are hereby informed by the Superior Authority of a Preliminary Explanatory Note j to the qualifications on Chapter 3 of the schema on the Church. The doctrine contained in this chapter must be explained and understood according to the meaning and tenor of this note.” He then read the complete text as it had appeared in the booklet containing the qualifications to Chapter 3 which had been distributed on Saturday, but with one major difference: this time, the note was called to the Council Fathers’ attention by the Pope, rather than by the Theological Commission itself. The Pope also explicitly extended the interpretation of the note to the whole of Chapter 3, and not only to the qualifications.

The precise theological terminology of the Explanatory Note made it clear beyond all doubt that the interpretation to be placed on the concept of collegiality as taught by the schema was the moderate liberal one. (The ambiguity, now removed, had been recognized by Cardinal Ottaviani as early as the second session, when he so strenuously objected to the phraseology of the four points presented for the vote by the Cardinal Moderators on October 30, 1963.)

On Tuesday, November 17, each Council Father received a personal printed copy of the Preliminary Explanatory Note, and afterwards the Council voted 2099 to 46 in favor of the manner in which the Theological Commission had handled the qualifications for Chapter 3.

On November 19, in announcing that the vote on the schema as a whole would take place that morning, the Secretary General explained that this vote, as well as the vote which was to take place two days later at a public session, must be understood in accordance with the announcements which he had previously made upon instructions from the Superior Authority. Those announcements, he added, would be inserted in the official record of the Council.

The result of the vote that morning was 2134 to 10 in favor of the schema. It was greeted with enthusiastic applause.