Pope Benedict told Cardinal Rigali last fall that 50 years ago, “I was down there” in St. Peter’s Square during the Second Vatican Council.

“I said, ‘Holy Father, I was down there, too, 50 years ago, and I’m still down there,” replied Cardinal Rigali, who related the story to members of the East Tennessee media during the press conference.

The cardinal said “there’s no such thing as a pope today that doesn’t accept Vatican II, and there’s no such thing as a pope today who doesn’t accept all the other councils, the 20 councils that were before Vatican II.”

Regarding the new pope’s adherence to Vatican II, Cardinal Rigali referred to “a point that Pope Benedict made Oct. 11 in St. Peter’s Square” on the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council convening.

“He says don’t talk about the ‘spirit of Vatican II,’ because there is no spirit of Vatican II independent of the texts of Vatican II. So what Vatican II said, Vatican II meant, and that’s the spirit.”