WI There Was No Vatican2?

What's vatican 2?:confused:
Second Vatican Council, which is taken by some ultraconservatives to be a betrayal of everything the Church stands for, and taken by some ultraliberals as a betrayal of everything the Church stands for, but for entirely different reasons. For the rest of us, it was merely a streamlining that took a wrong turn sometime in '72, but seems to be improving. The Second Vatican Council is one of the most significant Councils to shape the modern Church next to Trent.
 
This could butterfly away both Hans Kung and Pope Benedict XVI...

Or at least as we know them. Ratizinger would be seen as a reformist (as he was and to a large extent, still is). Of course, he'd probably be at most Archbishop of Munich - more likely he'd remain a theology professor, of interest to the Religious Studies faculties around the world, but not Pope.
 
As A devout American Catholic I would love for Mass to still be in Latin and for people to still be required to kneel at communion ( which I believe shows deeper respect for the body of Christ) .

I agree with the kneeling part, but weren't the old communion formulas a little strange? (Something about "sacrificing the body of Christ". It reminds me of the stories they told about the jews in medieval times)
 
This could butterfly away both Hans Kung and Pope Benedict XVI...

Hans Kung was rather obscure before the council. His only claim to fame was writing a book about Karl Barth and getting an unexpected favorable open letter from Barth. It should be noted that within the domain of early 1960's Protestant theology Barth was regarded as a conservative. In the council's last session Kung made a name for himself showing off his real talent which was manipulating the press and hogging the spotlight. Without the council I would see him having a hard time getting the same attention.

Ratzinger OTOH had already established a reputation for himself in that branch of New Theology which emphasized ressourcement and would indubitably have been an influential theologian without the council. In OTL his partial turn in theology came in stages. First he was persuaded by von Balthasar that the more radical form of New Theology had dominated at the last session of the council and so they created the periodical Communio which had an ambivalent view of the council and esp. its alleged "spirit".

The second turning point came with the student riots of 1968 which made Ratzinger fearful of a radical spirit that could cause civilization to collapse. I do not see no council butterflying away 1968 so Ratzinger would still be diverging still further from Rahner.
 
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