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CAREY POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW 2006-07
Evyatar Marienberg
Tel Aviv University
"Cardinal Ottaviani stumbled back in humiliation": An Historical Inquiry into the Construction and Dissemination of "The Vatican II Story," 1962-2005
In 2005, the Catholic world marked the fortieth anniversary of the conclusion of the second council of the Vatican (1962-1965). “Marked,” not necessarily “celebrated”: the council has become in recent years such a controversial issue that some hesitate to “celebrate” it. At the center of the debate is the question of what is the right, “authentic,” [hi]story of the council, and, consequently, its “authentic interpretation.” This project examines selected aspects of common narratives in various languages of the story, and history, of the council, in order to understand the agendas they try, overtly or covertly, to convey.
The quotation in this project’s title comes from a well-known book on the council. Its claim that Cardinal Ottaviani, a key figure of the so-called “conservative camp” in the council, “stumbled back in humiliation” after a speech, is one example among many of the techniques used (in this case, by a “liberal”), to depict a certain “image” of the council and its dynamics. This is understandable: those who had to explain the decisions of the council to the public had, already in 1963, official conciliar texts to rely upon. On the other hand, there has never been an official history of the council. It had to be constructed. Journalists, theologians, bishops, and others, assumed the role of storytellers, and had to make decisions: What to emphasize? How to summarize years of discussions into dozens, or even hundreds of pages? To make a good, catchy story, they had to include some good guys, some bad ones, a few powerful figures, and some fools. They also had to decide whether this was a story with a happy ending or a sad one. They had to arrange the events in a coherent way, directed by an overall narrative. Last, but not least, in writing an account of a religiously significant event, they had to consider how to make it a morally and theologically edifying one. These considerations evidently shaped the narrative they produced. The recent elevation to the papacy of Joseph Ratzinger, a theological advisor to the council, gives a boost to certain narratives. Aware of this development, Evyatar Marienberg intends to integrate ideas he has had since his undergraduate studies at the Institut Catholique de Paris. He hopes this research will contribute not only to the understanding of council’s narratives thus far, but also to those of the future.
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