Zagreb, (IKA) – On Monday, June 2, in the Vijenac Auditorium of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Institute in Zagreb, the seventh corrected, revised and supplemented edition of the Documents of the Second Vatican Council published by Kršćanska sadašnjost was presented. The documents were presented by the archbishop of Zagreb, Cardinal Josip Bozanić; Auxiliary Bishop Ivan Šaško of Zagreb, Assistant Prof. Željko Tanjić of the Catholic Faculty of Theology and the editor-in-chief of Kršćanska sadašnjost, Dr. Aldo Starić. The Rev. Anton Šuljić, the assistant director of KS who served as the moderator, noted that this presentation was being held on the eve of the 45th anniversary of the death of the Blessed Pope John XXIII, who began the great adventure of the Second Vatican Council.
Dr. Adalbert Rebić, the director of KS, explained that the need had been felt for the revision of the Croatian translation of the Documents of the Second Vatican Council and years of work had been invested in this new edition. He thanked Prof. Stjepan Kušar, who had invested great effort in re-editing the texts, reviewing and correcting the translations and providing supplements to these documents.

Cardinal Bozanić expressed satisfaction concerning the preparation and publication of the Seventh Revised and Supplemented Edition of the Documents of the Second Vatican Council, and thanked all who had contributed to it. “The publication of this edition in the Croatian language provides a happy occasion for us to pause and reconsider the historical event of the Council,” said the cardinal, and pointed out that the processes of acceptance and application have been fairly complicated in the history of the Church. The post-conciliar periods have always been complicated and required time for the understanding and acceptance of the magisterium of the Council and serious study of the Conciliar messages. However, it is also necessary to clear up some direct human expectations and provide constant verifications within the context of the overall conciliar magisterium, noted Cardinal Bozanić. He concluded that now, when we have new translations in the Croatian language of the documents of the Vatican Council, following the Croatian editions of the Code of Canon Law and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, it would be necessary to prepare a lexicon of Croatian Church terminology.

Biskup Šaško spoke about the new edition of the documents in the light of the first document, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium. This document is considered to be a type of introduction to the documents, and its title seems to refer to a statement, definition, as if this were one or even the only document. He pointed out that this document refers to something that we have somewhat lost sight of during the years of work on and from the documents. This concerns the whole, a network of various indices and synoptic aids to facilitate embarking on the sea that is nonetheless an entity, he said. Through seven points, he explained the importance and emphasis of the documents. Dr. Tanjić pointed out that this edition is an important Church, theological and cultural event, and expressed the hope that it will prompt everyone to study the conciliar documents with greater zeal, because the conciliar documents are one of the fundamental sources of the formation of our theology.
At the end of the presentation, Dr. Aldo Starić spoke about the editorial work, comparing the linguistic solutions of previous editions with those of the new edition of the documents. Among those attending the presentation were Auxiliary Bishop Valentin Pozaić of Zagreb, Fra Bonaventura Duda, canons, prebendaries and professors of the Catholic Faculty of Theology.