“…..to defend the true tradition of the Church today means to defend the Council. It is also our fault if we have at times provided a pretext (to the ‘right’ and ‘left’ alike) to view Vatican II as a ‘break’ and an abandonment of the tradition. There is, instead, a continuity that allows neither a return to the past nor a flight forward, neither anachronistic longings nor unjustified impatience. We must remain faithful to the today of the Church, not the yesterday or tomorrow. And this today of the Church is the documents of Vatican II, without reservations that amputate them and without arbitrariness that distorts them.”
(The Ratzinger Report)
My friends, Cardinal Ratzinger was a man of the Second Vatican Council. As Pope Benedict XVI, he also defended the Council. He went to his death without condemning it for what it was, the doctrinal foundation of a new church, the conciliar church. Very sad. Deo gratias for Archbishop Lefebvre who stood up to him during the days he was cardinal.