Capuchin Father Thomas Weinandy is “uncomfortable" with the conclusion that Vatican II is "the direct source and cause of the present disheartening state of the Church.”
A critic of Francis, Weinandy doesn't deny the huge damage done to the Church in the last decades (InsideTheVatican.com, July 27).
However, for him it's naïve to think that so many priests and faithful were people of deep faith, and then, overnight, were corrupted by the Council and its spirit, and left.
Therefore, he argues that the Council only provided the occasion for the already existing difficulties to come to light, "they were already there, deeply embedded within the Church, prior to the Council.”
Weinandy's thesis sharply contradicts John XXIII who admitted in his Opening Speech for Vatican II (October 11, 1962) that there was no lack of false doctrines, opinions, or dangerous concepts, but then explained that "these things so openly conflict with the right norms of honesty, and have borne such lethal fruits …More