Ralph Michael Wiltgen (17 December 1921, in Evanston, Illinois, USA – 6 December 2007) was an American Catholic priest, missionary and journalist specially famous for writing the book ''The Rhine Flows Into the Tiber'', an account of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...

Life

Born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1921, Wiltgen became a

Divine Word Missionary The Society of the Divine Word ( la, Societas Verbi Divini), abbreviated SVD and popularly called the Verbites or the Divine Word Missionaries, and sometimes the Steyler Missionaries, is a Catholic Church, Catholic clerical religious congregation ...

in 1938 and received Holy Orders in 1950. He was the author of several books about the Catholic Church, including ''The Religious Life Defined'', ''Founding of the Roman Catholic Church in Oceania, 1825–50'' and ''Gold Coast Mission History''. Wiltgen was present in Rome during the sessions of Vatican II. Given the poor performance by Vatican Press Office, Wiltgen started his own office called "Divine Word News Service" that had 3100 subscribers in 108 countries. He died in 2007.

''The Rhine Flows Into the Tiber''

He is especially famous because of his account of the proceedings of the

. He holds the theory that the council was a theological dispute that pitted the churches of the countries where the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

flows (Austria, Germany, France, Switzerland, Netherlands and Belgium, which were more liberal), against other churches (Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, English-speaking and Italian, which were more traditionalist). He took the name of the book from a phrase by 2nd-century Roman writer

Juvenal Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ), was a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century CE. He is the author of the collection of satirical poems known as the ''Satires''. The details of Juvenal's life ...

"It seems as if the Orontes flows into the Tiber", complaining of too much cultural influence from Syria into Rome. The book received the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur in 1966 by later cardinal Terence Cooke though many members of the Church appeared under a grim light.What Went Wrong with Vatican II: The Catholic Crisis Explained Ralph M. McInerny
/ref> Several editions of the book have been published, the most recent by TAN Books in 2014 under the title ''The Inside Story of Vatican II''.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiltgen, Ralph M 1921 births 2007 deaths American Roman Catholic missionaries Roman Catholic writers Second Vatican Council 20th-century American Roman Catholic priests