Q414 – Do you agree that the Second Vatican Council should be seen as the guiding star of the Church’s journey, and how should that be understood?

I think that the affirmation that a council itself is a guiding star is not so fitting for me. Our guiding star is our Lord, Jesus Christ, always. This is the guiding star, the divine revelation which Christ gave us, and it is always the guiding star for all times. A council is only one of many possibilities, forms, or tools for transmitting divine revelation and teaching it. It is not itself the light or the guide, the form of the Magisterium.

A council is only one of the communicable councils. There are ecumenical councils, and I think the Council of Nicaea is still a guiding star, which we celebrate, proclaiming clearly and boldly the full divinity of the Son of God, our Lord. This is always a guiding star. The Council of Trent, with its crystal clear teachings on the Sacrifice of the Mass, the Holy Eucharist, and the doctrine of justification and grace, is also a guiding star.

I think it is not right to absolutize one council as the guiding star. The guiding star should be the entire Gospel, as clearly formulated in tradition. Within a council, some affirmations are more important, while others are less so. Some are clear formulations, others are ambiguous. To declare all council teachings as a guiding star, we must be careful.

For example, in my opinion, the council’s call to the universal vocation to holiness for the entire Church is a concrete guiding star. But not the entire magisterium of the council, which contains many levels and some ambiguous formulations. For instance, the text in Lumen Gentium, which says that Catholics and Muslims adore the one God together, is quite ambiguous and causes confusion today. Some people might interpret it as saying we should not be concerned if others do not believe in God, in the Holy Trinity, or similar expressions.

Therefore, I would say we must restate Christ, the Gospel, His teachings, and the constant tradition of the Church, the constant Magisterium, which at certain moments were clearly formulated without doubt. These remain the guiding star. Perhaps one theme from the councils, like the call to universal holiness, could be one of the topics we follow.