"So, dominant and more efficient, this council created many calamities, so many problems, so much misery. In reality, seminaries closed, convents closed, the liturgy was trivialized ... and the true council has struggled to materialize, to be realized," he stated.
In his analysis, Pope Benedict said that the virtual council was stronger than the real council, but the real strength of the council was present.
"It has slowly emerged and is becoming the real power which is also true reform, true renewal of the Church," he said.
"It seems to me that 50 years after the Council, we see how this virtual council is breaking down, getting lost and the true council is emerging with all its spiritual strength," he observed to his priests.
"And it is our task to work so that the true Council with the power of the Holy Spirit is realized and the Church is really renewed," he emphasized.
Pope Benedict said it was a "special and providential gift" to be able to meet with Roman clergy before leaving the papacy in two weeks.
"It' s always a great joy to see how the Church lives, and how in Rome, the Church is alive because there are pastors who in the spirit of the supreme Shepherd, guide the flock of Christ," he said.
"It is a truly Catholic and universal clergy and it is part of the essence of the Church of Rome itself, to reflect the universality, the catholicity of all nations, of all races, of all cultures," he declared.
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