John Paul II has always been "concerned" to safeguard the Conciliar fathers’ genuine intention and to avoid the partial and pre-emptive interpretations that in certain cases "had not expressed in full the renewal" of the Conciliar process. This is what Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State, said today at the international meeting on "Vatican II and the papacy of John Paul II" which is being held in Rome until 30th October. According to Pope Wojtyla "the council has been a real challenge, namely for the Conciliar fathers." "They have tackled the challenge and have engaged in a deeper understanding of the true nature of the Church and its relationship with the outside world to predict a real change," said the Cardinal. According to Bertone, "for John Paul II, the Council was the Council of the Church, of Christ, of the man. Speaking about God is to speak about the Church and, therefore, about ‘the man’." "We cannot lock the Church into some patterns that have nothing to do with our personal and community history," said the Vatican Secretary of State. According to John Paul II, "the Conciliar documents are not breaking with the past, but are rather an invitation to translate the Gospel and make it more understandable to the contemporary man," said the speaker. Hence, the link to the hermeneutics of the reform, the "renewal within tradition" whose validity has been stressed by Pope Benedict XVI as it "well translates the intentions of John XXIII and Paul XI."
