The bad news: Pope Leo, announcing h a series of Wednesday talks on Vatican II, referred to that council as “the guiding star of the Church’s journey today.” This approach perpetuates the notion that Vatican II is THE council, rather than one of many Church councils— and not one marked by clarity or by successful results.

The good news: The Pope wants to discuss the actual documents of Vatican II, “and to do so not through ‘hearsay’ or interpretations that have been given…” Here he quotes from Pope Benedict, who, in his first message to the College of Cardinals after his election in April 2005, said that the documents “have lost none of their timeliness.”

Significantly, after making that statement, Pope Benedict spoke of “my determination to continue to put the Second Vatican Council into practice, following in the footsteps of my Predecessors and in faithful continuity with the 2,000-year tradition of the Church.” [emphasis added] If Pope Leo can draw new attention to the Council documents, while reading them in the light of that tradition, he could eliminate much of the confusion that has spread in the wake of the Council.