institutions is given. It can be argued, however, that a full equality
between Catholic and non-Catholic Christians is affirmed by the
Council.
Superficially, one might conclude that whilerecognitioretains its
canonical sense in the Council documents,agnoscoandagnitioare
employed in the traditional theological sense. This conclusion may,
however, be extended such that, given thatrecognitioin fact often
means a substantial revision of the matters in hand, the legal sense tends
to give way to that deeper sense which we have encountered in August-
ine and Ficino. When an old text is‘re-cognized’so that an improved
revision emerges, the issue of the text reveals its inner self or its deeper
significance, which has been forgotten.Recognitiothus means the act of
remembering or even discovering the original core of the issue.
To see how this procedure works, we may look at a passage
describing the renewal of some sacramental realities in theConstitu-
tion on the Sacred Liturgy:
The rite of the infant baptism is to be revised (recognoscatur), and
adapted to the reality of the situation with babies. Moreover, the roles
of the parents and godparents, together with their duties, should
become clearer in the rite....
The rite of confirmation is also to be revised (recognoscatur). The point
of this revision is that the very close connection of this sacrament with
the whole process of Christian initiation may become more clearly
visible....
The rite of celebrating marriage in the Roman book of rites is to be
revised (recognoscatur), and made richer, in such a way that it will
express the grace of the sacrament more clearly, and emphasise the
duties of wife and husband....
The sacramentals should be revised (recognoscantur), bearing in mind
the fundamental principle that people should be able to take part
actively, easily, and with awareness of what is happening.^265This passage can be read in a legal and technical way; then it simply
means a textual revision in the sense described above. However, the
reasons given in the passage suggest that the process ofrecognitiois
also a theological act that reveals the deeper core and reality of the
sacraments and sacramentals. Obviously, the Council is not introdu-
cing new sacraments or changing its doctrines concerning them
(^265) Sacrosanctum concilium,67–79.
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