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Yves Congar: Five areas of work

Among the first to realise the Council’s potential was the theologian, Yves Congar, who had begun to work with Cardijn and the JOC during the early 1930s, giving retreats to JOC leaders at the Saulchoir, the Dominican convent then located at Kain, near Tournai in Belgium.

Subsequently, Congar continued to work closely with the JOC and other Specialised Catholic Action movements, culminating in his publication in 1953 of “Jalons pour une théologie du laïcat.” This was later translated into English as “Lay People in the Church.”

Nevertheless, his work had also attracted the attention of the Holy Office, the Vatican body responsible for doctrine. Along with several colleagues, he had been banned from teaching. As a result, he was transferred to Jerusalem at his own request and later sent to England and was eventually assigned to Strasbourg, where Archbishop Weber was more open to him.

Congar therefore took a keen interest in Pope John’s announcement of a Council. Within three weeks of its announcement, in mid-February 1959, he wrote suggesting five areas of work that thought the Council would do well to focus on (Giuseppe Alberigo, “The Announcement of the Council: From the Security of the Fortress to the Lure of the Quest,” in Alberigo-Komonchak, I, 35).

These included:

  • Confirming the unity of the Church
  • Promoting pastoral activity,
  • Reasserting the spiritual vocation of the human person
  • Combating doctrinal error and
  • Completing the work of Vatican I a century before.

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First meeting with John XXIII

Although he did not react publicly to Pope John’s announcement there’s little doubt that it must have intrigued and even excited Cardijn’s imagination.

It was therefore with a growing sense of anticipation and even trepidation that he journeyed to Rome with International YCW leaders, Romeo Maione (president) and Maria Meersman (vice-president) in February 1959.

Once again, Maione recorded the colourful story.

“Cardijn always prepared well. This time he was even more meticulous in his preparation.

“The next day, we arrived at the Vatican in time for a 12:30 pm audience with John XXIII,” Maione recalled. But the pope kept them waiting until 1.15pm.

Finally, the pope himself emerged to welcome the YCW delegation, saying: “You are sure an important man, a man must be elected Pope before he is allowed to meet you.”

Here, Cardijn adds a crucial detail of this first meeting, citing the pope’s welcome to him:

“I have known you for such a long time! I have been following you and your work,” Pope John told Cardijn, adding a significant promise. “I will support the YCW as Pius XI and Pius XII, indeed even more than they did!”

The ice broken, Cardijn did not hesitate to outline his own proposals and requests, including “a new papal letter for young workers, a new social encyclical,” and “training of priests for the lay apostolate.”

Official business over, the two men continued to chat freely, Maione noted.

“John started to talk about his hopes for the council. His central hope was the unity of the churches. He talked about the scandal of division then he added: ‘We must shake hands and make up, and we Catholics must be the first to offer our hand in peace. After all, we keep proclaiming that we have the whole truth and this truth is charity, so we should be the first to offer our hand in peace.’

Cardijn himself was greatly impressed.

“He spoke so freely of a new Pentecost! I will never forget our first meeting,” he remembered.

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The new pope calls an Ecumenical Council

A Vatican diplomat by training and experience, Cardinal Angelo Roncalli was a surprise choice to succeed Pope Pius XII on 29 October 1958.

But an even bigger surprise would come less than three months later on 25 January 1959, when Pope John XXIII stunned the world and the Church by calling an Ecumenical Council for the whole Church as well as a synod for the Diocese of Rome.

The new pope presented the Council as a response to both positive and negative trends in the world.

“The grace of Christ continues to multiply fruits and portents of spiritual elevation, health and holiness throughout the world,” the pope explained.

But there was also “abuse and compromise of human freedom, (by people) who, not knowing the open skies, and refusing to believe in Christ the Son of God, Redeemer of the world and founder of the Holy Church, turn everything in search of the so-called goods of the earth, under the inspiration of him whom the Gospel calls prince of darkness, prince of this world.

In addition there was “the temptation and the attraction towards the advantages of a material order that the progress of modern technology – indifferent in itself – magnifies and exalts,” Pope John noted.

“All this – let’s say, this progress – while it distracts from the search for higher goods, weakens the energies of the spirit, leads to the relaxation of the structure of discipline and of the ancient good order, with grave prejudice of what constituted the strength of resistance of the Church and of the his sons to errors, which in reality always in the course of the history of Christianity, led to fatal and fatal divisions, to spiritual and moral decay, to the ruin of nations,” he warned.

Hence the need for a Council, which like others in “eras of renewal” in the history of the Church had helped increase “clarity of thought” and “compactness of religious unity” as well as promoting “the liveliest flame of Christian fervour.”

We have no record of Cardijn’s reaction to this stunning announcement. Just two weeks later, however, he would travel to Rome hoping for his first audience with the new pope he did not know.

SOURCE

Pope St John XXIII, Announcement of an Ecumenical Council (Vatican 2 Voice)

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International YCW president meets the new pope

Cardijn had not yet returned from Asia and the Pacific, when International YCW president, Romeo Maione, had his first encounter with the incoming pope.

He later recalled that meeting as follows:

“I remember well my first meeting with Pope John a week after he was elected. A new Pope as part of traditional protocol meets with various government delegations which attended the enthronement ceremonies.

“Pope John insisted that he also meet with a delegation of lay leaders in the church as part of this protocol. As the international president of the Young Christian Workers, I was asked to be part of this small delegation.

“At that time, I was suffering from a serious attack of sciatica, literally, I was leaning like the Tower of Pisa. As was the custom of the day, one was called to genuflect when introduced to the pope. (This tradition was later abolished).

“Because of my back, I told the papal secretary that I could not kneel. When the pope entered, he gave his usual commentary on a gospel passage and then met and had a personal word with each person.

H”e came to me and moved back looking at my 250 lbs and said: “I suppose that you are the man that can not kneel down, you better not who would be able to pick you up.”

“Suddenly, the laughter brought the great virtue of humour into the Vatican,” Maione wrote.

But in addition to his humour, Pope John was already foreshadowing the importance that he would place on lay leadership and the lay apostolate.

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John XXIII: Never heard of him…

John XXIII

Cardijn was deeply concerned following the death on 9 October 1958 of Pius XII, who had reigned as pope since 2 March 1939.

Indeed, the YCW founder had known him even before that as Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, the Holy See Secretary of State, who had written an important letter of encouragement to the YCW on the occasion of its first International Congress in Brussels in August 1935.

Now Cardijn was nervous about whether the new pope would continue to support the YCW.

“I was in New Zealand when we learnt on the radio through the Archbishop of Christchurch of the death of Pius XII,” Cardijn later wrote.

“After a session of fervent prayer in the chapel, we asked ourselves: ‘How will we find a worthy successor to such a great and holy Pope?’

“I continued on my voyage to Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia and it was at the airport of Formosa (now Taiwan) that people told us: ‘We have a new Pope: John XXIII!’

– John XXIII, who is he?

– It’s Cardinal Roncalli, the Patriarch of Venice

– Roncalli… never heard of him!”

Pope Pius XI had memorably endorsed the YCW during Cardijn’s first audience with him in March 1925. And in 1935, he declared the YCW an “authentic” or “perfect” form of Catholic Action.

Pius XII had continued and extended that pontifical support. In 1956, the Holy See had approved the new statutes of the JOC Internationale (International YCW).

A year later on 25 August 1957, the pope had welcomed and hosted the 32,000 young workers from around the world who had joined the JOC pilgrimage to Rome.

Moreover, Pius XII had steadfastly continued to support the YCW despite the fact that he had severely limited the French worker priest experience while several theologians close to Cardijn and the JOC such as the Dominicans, Yves Congar and Marie-Dominique Chenu, had also been sanctioned.

What would the new pope do about the YCW? Cardijn, how 76, was understandably concerned about the future of his life’s work.

Pope John XXIII was elected on 28 October 1958. Therefore as soon as he returned to Brussels from Asia and the Pacific, Cardijn wasted no time in planning to visit Rome to meet the new pope.

SOURCE

Original French

Joseph Cardijn, Sous la règne de Jean XXIII: Une nouvelle Pentecôte (Bulletin de la JOC Internationale) (Bibliothèque Digitale Joseph Cardijn)

English translation

Joseph Cardijn, During the reign of John XXIII: A new Pentecost (Bulletin of the International YCW, July – August 1963 No. 90) (Joseph Cardijn Digital Library)