O declínio da Igreja após o Vaticano II (3)

Ainda relativamente ao mesmo assunto, e fazendo fé nesta citação atribuída ao Cardeal Ratzinger (edição inglesa do L'Osservatore Romano, de 24 de dezembro de 1984), a preocupação com os possíveis efeitos dissolutivos e desintegradores do Concílio Vaticano II não será tão marginal quanto isso:

Certainly the results [of Vatican II] seem cruelly opposed to the expectations of everyone, beginning with those of Pope John XXIII and then of Pope Paul VI: expected was a new Catholic unity and instead we have been exposed to self-destruction. Expected was a new enthusiasm, and many wound up discouraged and bored. ###

Expected was a great step forward; instead we find ourselves faced with a progressive process of decadence which has developed for the most part under the sign of a calling back to the Council, and has therefore contributed to discrediting it for many. The net result therefore seems negative. I am repeating here what I said ten years after the conclusion of the work: it is incontrovertible that this period has definitely been unfavorable for the Catholic Church.