Religion: The Cardinal’s Setback

The motto on Alfredo Cardinal Otta viani’s Vatican coat of arms” is Semper Idem (Always the Same), and the rigid Ottaviani has clearly and consistently argued that the Roman Catholic Church should resist change. As secretary of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, Ottaviani, 72, has diligently searched out those whom he considers modernists and heretics. As undisputed leader of conservative opinion at the Second Vatican Council, he has opposed reform as vigorously as he once opposed the idea of holding the council. But last week, as the Vatican Council’s forces for change demonstrated their swelling strength, even Ottaviani supporters realized that Semper Idem is a hopeless cause.

Ottaviani’s first collision came three weeks ago while he was heatedly warning the council that the schema proposing changes in Catholic liturgy bordered on heresy. Reminded by the presiding cardinal that his speech exceeded the ten-minute time limit, Ottaviani sat down. His fellow prelates clapped, applauding the ruling. Outraged and hurt, Ottaviani boycotted council sessions for ten days. Last week the proposal for liturgical reforms, which promise to make the Mass “more vital and informative for the faithful in accordance with present pastoral requirements,” passed, 2,162 to 46.

Two Arcs. Nor did Cardinal Ottaviani have any luck in battles outside the council. Last week, he asked Pope John XXIII to order Austria’s liberal Jesuit Theologian Karl Rahner out of Rome, and to censure the Jesuit-run Biblical Institute (which by its existence implies critical study of the Scriptures). The Pope’s answer quickly spread through Vatican circles: “It is only recently that I have learned of this attack on the Biblical Institute,” he told Ottaviani. “Why didn’t you let me know sooner? As far as Father Rahner is concerned, I have not been shown that he has committed any errors. Why don’t you discuss this with Cardinal Kb’nig?” Vienna’s liberal Franziskus Cardinal Konig, who brought Rahner to Rome as his personal theologian, is hardly likely to send him home.

Ottaviani’s most significant defeat came in discussion of the draft constitution on Scripture and tradition proposed by the commission he heads. Liberals believe that Scripture and tradition should be “like two arcs in the same searchlight” —a change that would delight Protestants, who have long been put off by Catholic emphasis on tradition. But Ottaviani’s proposals reflect the opposite view: that Scripture and tradition are two separate “founts of revelation,” that Scripture must be read under “ecclesiastical guidance.”

“Negative Tone.” One by one, eminent cardinals rose to attack ‘Ottaviani’s draft. Joseph Elmer Cardinal Ritter of St. Louis, a longtime friend of Ottaviani, complained that the proposal had a “pessimistic, negative tone.” Biblical Scholar Augustin Cardinal Bea, head of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, said that the proposed constitution “would close the door to intellectual Europe and the outstretched hands of friendship in the old and new world.”

Two powerful cardinals—Palermo’s Ruffini and Genoa’s Siri—supported Cardinal Ottaviani, who remarked to a friend, “We’re always with Peter and under Peter, even when he is in the greatest danger.” But others were not so sure. Said one Irish bishop: “We have had a mistaken idea that Cardinal Ottaviani represents the Holy See. We’ll have to revise our definition of what the Holy See is.”

It was the Holy See rather than the council that ordered a specific change in liturgy last week. Pope John decreed that the name of St. Joseph be inserted after that of Mary in the Canon, the most solemn part of the Mass. The Pontiff’s motive for making the first Canon “change since the 7th century was billed as an honor for the patron of the council, but the timing was strange. Extra honor for Joseph had been discussed inconclusively in the council. Council fathers conjectured that the Pope might be setting an example of liturgical change—or that he might be showing that final authority rested with him. Some saw the inclusion as a minor matter. Complained one theologian during the council discussion: “Half the world doesn’t even believe in God, and we worry about St. Joseph.”