Iota Unum and the Conciliar Church by Romano Amerio

I am currently reading a fascinating book entitled Iota Unum: A Study of Changes in the Catholic Church in the Twentieth Century by Roman Amerio a Roman Catholic scholar who participated in the preparations for the Second Vatican Council. His perspective is unique in that he directly witnessed the events as they happened. Amerio is amazingly forthright in his appraisal of the uncharacteristic way in which the Council was called, the inexplicable abandonment of over 3 years of preparatory work by the Commission, the paradoxical outcome of the Council compared with what had been promised and the bizarre innovations which followed the close of the Second Vatican Council in 1965. Iota Unum is a treasure trove of information for all Catholics who wish to come to a better understanding of what happened to the Roman Catholic Church of record which existed for almost 2000 years prior to 1962.

Some short quotations from Iota Unum are provided for the interest of readers who wish to experience a flavor of the book:

“A distinctive feature of Vatican II is its paradoxical outcome.” P. 82

“Fr, Congar repeatedly states that the Church of Pius IX and Pius XII is finished.” P. 114

“The change (Conciliar teaching) can be described as more or less all-embracing in its extent…Faith has been changed from an act of the intellect into an act of the person…Hope lowers its object, becoming an aspiration and a belief about a purely earthly liberation and transformation. Charity, which like faith and hope has a formally supernatural object, similarly lowers its object and turns toward man…” P. 108

“The primary characteristic of the post-conciliar period is an all-embracing change affecting every aspect of the Church whether internal or external.” “…The question arises as to whether a change from one kind of religion to another is not underway, as many in both lay and clerical circles do not hesitate to assert.” P. 107

"It is impossible to deny that the shift from a still largely Christian culture to an entirely anthropocentric one happened during Pope Paul's reign and immediately thereafter." P. 738

"Vatican II represents a massive series of innovations that have marked every aspect of ecclesial life, whether theoretical or practical..." P. 751


--Dr. J. P. Hubert