Romano Amerio

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Romano Amerio (born June 22, 1905 in Lugano ; † October 4, 1997 ibid) was a Roman Catholic philosopher, theologian and a later critic of the post-conciliar developments in liturgy and ecclesiology .

Romano Amerio

Life

Amerio was born in Lugano in 1905 and was Italian by nationality . In 1927 he received his doctorate from the Catholic University of Milan with a thesis on Tommaso Campanella . He was a student of Agostino Gemelli , the founder of the university. In the years from 1928 to 1970 he taught philosophy, Greek and Latin at the grammar school and at the humanistic upper grammar school in Lugano, of which he became an honorary citizen. Angelo Jelmini , Bishop of Lugano and member of the central preparatory commission of the Second Vatican Council , consulted Amerio to study the council schemes and to assist in the drafting of the statements. He served as the peritus of the then Bishop of Lugano at the Second Vatican Council and was also an advisor to Giuseppe Cardinal Siri . Gradually he developed into a critic of the " aggiornamento ". Amerio became known through his philosophical studies on Antonio Rosmini and his critical edition of Mazoni's "Osservazioni sulla morale cattolica". His philosophical works on this 17th century philosopher and poet are considered standard works.

In his traditionalist writings, Amerio identifies three syllabi which, in his view, were implicitly and intellectually negated in the post-conciliar period: the encyclical Quanta Cura , which condemned liberalism and the worldview of the Freemasons ; the decree Lamentabili sane exitu against scientific biblical criticism and the encyclical Humani generis of 1950, which opposed new views on anthropology and ecclesiology in the Church.

Amerio was also opposed to the liturgical changes brought about by the Council, and his thoughts on the subject largely coincide with Pope Pius XII's encyclical Mediator Dei . Amerio saw the Catholic liturgy as a cult to be offered to God and turned against reform tendencies that put people more in the focus of liturgical events, whereby the liturgical celebration, in Amerio's view, degenerated into a "celebration of oneself". Amerio also examined the institutional changes in the Holy Office associated with the Council period, arguing that the formal omission of the term " heresy " in official investigations and procedures had dramatic effects on church life, study and Christian science.

Amerio was a friend of traditional Catholic apologetics and expressed dismay at the abandonment of the conventional ideas of conversion and disputation in favor of the idea of ​​a purely dialectical approach to conversation between church and world, as advocated by modern fundamental theology . In his philosophical writings he adhered to the traditional teaching scheme of Thomism and Augustinism , as it had become common in Catholic theology during the Neo- Scholastic period, and rejected Kantianism , Hegelianism and Spinozism for religious reasons. Amerio's essays have been praised by the proponents of traditional doctrine of the Catholic Church . They appeared at the time of the public conflict between Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and his traditionalist Society of St. Pius X. and Pope Paul VI. In this conflict, Amerio tended to use the traditional term Lefebvre, condemned by the Pope.

Works

His main work is the book "Iota Unum" published in 1985, which takes stock of the changes that have taken place in the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council. In this work he treats the entire spectrum of modern Catholic life and modern Catholic teaching in 42 chapters, which he subjects to critical consideration. The focus is on: the Second Vatican Council, priesthood, catechesis, religious orders, feminism , ecumenism , faith, morality, Catholic culture, liturgy and eschatology . He cites ideas, events and statements from popes, cardinals, bishops and bishops' conferences and contrasts them with Catholic principles. In this way Amerio shows the difference between development and change. Amerio states that conversion and apologetics in the post-conciliar dialogue were supplanted by a “positive exchange”: The dialogue can convert, but it can also pervert and lead from the truth into error. The work was created between 1935 and 1985.

A second volume entitled "Stat Veritas: Continuation of Iota Unum" appeared posthumously in 1997 .

source

  • Amerio, Romano: Iota Unum. A Study of Changes in the Catholic Church in the 20th Century . Ruppichteroth: Canisius-Werk, 2000.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Amerio, Romano
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman Catholic theologian, peritus at the Second Vatican Council
DATE OF BIRTH June 22, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Lugano
DATE OF DEATH 4th October 1997
Place of death Lugano