Rastos do Concílio Vaticano II nos escritos de Joseph Ratzinger e Leonardo Boff 1965 a 2007

Abstract

In this study, we conducted an investigation on the interpretations about the Second Vatican Council that are found in publications by theologian Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI - Ruler between 2005 and 2013; emeritus from 2013 to 2022 -, and theologian and philosopher Leonardo Boff, exponent of the Latin-American Theology of Liberation. In the sources searched, greater emphasis was given to books published by these two catholic scholars between 1965 and 2007. However, to deepen the understanding of their work and its context, we included articles, interviews and later published books by the German and Brazilian intellectuals, as well as Catholic Church’s official texts, namely: 1) concluding documents of the Second Vatican Council (Constitutions, decrees and declarations); 2) of the second, third, fourth and fifth Conferences of the Latin American Episcopal Council (Celam); 3) Papal Announcements and Encyclicals; 4) texts of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; 5) correspondence of the former Franciscan priest that dealt with the doctrinal process undertaken by the body responsible for the control of the sound doctrine, at the time, administered by the Bavarian Cardinal, against his book Igreja: carisma e poder. Ensaios sobre eclesiologia militante. The twenty-first Catholic Council took place in four sections, between the years of 1962 and 1965, and was attended by two Popes (John XXIII and Paul VI), Cardinals, Bishops, Fathers, and Christians from all over the known world. It has sparkled interest in a significant part of the world media, the international theological community - beyond the catholicism -, as well as philosophers, social scientists, historians, lay people engaged in Catholic communities, among others. After the closing of the last session, on December 8, 1965, efforts to study its documents, interpretations, applications and updates in different contexts began. Several responses and competitions over the legitimate understanding came from it, which made difficult the possibilities of total monopolization by the Roman authorities regarding the correct legacy. As scholars of the Christianism, Ratznger and Boff reflected, at different moments of their intellectual productions, on the legacy of that event; faced debates about intensely discussed topics in the history of theology, in particular, in the Catholicism, such as: 1) dialogue with the so-called modern world, including the contributions of philosophy, science, atheism; 2) the conception of the Catholic Church as people of God and mystical body of Christ; 3) existing perspectives in relation to divine revelation, liturgy; 4) the origin of the authority and organization of the Church of Jesus Christ; 5) ecumenism, highlighting approaches to the pluralism of cultures and religions within and outside the Christian creed. The last century Council, for both authors - recognized as important references in the history of theology in the last decades of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century - was an indispensable starting point in their proposals and reflections.