As the winter of 1958 drew in, Pope John XXIII was thinking aloud to Cardinal Tardini: how to give an example of peace and unity in the modern world? He mused for a moment. ‘A Council!’ said the Pope. ‘Si, si! Un Concilio!’ replied His Eminence. And so the conciliar project began, but it was misconceived from the start. The Catholic Church is the Body of Christ; her purpose is not to be an example of unity; She is the unity to which all men of all times and places must belong. She exists to bring all men into the one mystical body of the Divine Lord Jesus Christ. He alone who is Saviour of the world reconciles them with God.
