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Second Vatican Council

The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the Second Vatican Council or Vatican II, was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met in Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and 12 weeks, in the autumn of each of the four years 1962 to 1965.

  • Second Vatican
  • Ecumenical Council
  • Concilium Oecumenicum Vaticanum Secundum (Latin)

11 October 1962 (11 October 1962) – 8 December 1965 (8 December 1965)

Catholic Church

First Vatican Council (1869–1870)

Pope John XXIII

Up to 2,625[1]

Complete unfinished task of Vatican I and ecumenical outreach to address needs of modern world

Four constitutions:

Nine decrees:

Three declarations:

Pope John XXIII called the council because he felt the Church needed "updating" (in Italian: aggiornamento). In order to better connect with people in an increasingly secularized world, some of the Church's practices needed to be improved and presented in a more understandable and relevant way. Support for aggiornamento won out over resistance to change, and as a result the sixteen magisterial documents produced by the council proposed significant developments in doctrine and practice, notably


The council had a significant impact on the Church due to the scope and variety of issues it addressed.[2] Some of the most notable changes were in performance of the Mass, including that vernacular languages could be authorized as well as the Latin.

Background[edit]

Biblical movement[edit]

Pope Pius XII's 1943 encyclical Divino afflante spiritu[3] gave a renewed impetus to Catholic Bible studies and encouraged the production of new Bible translations from the original languages. This led to a pastoral attempt to get ordinary Catholics to re-discover the Bible, to read it, to make it a source of their spiritual life. This found a response in very limited circles. By 1960, the movement was still in its infancy.[4][5]

Commission on the Doctrine of Faith and Morals: president Cardinal ;

Alfredo Ottaviani

Commission on Bishops and the Governance of Dioceses: president Cardinal ;

Paolo Marella

Commission on the Eastern Churches: president Cardinal ;

Amleto Giovanni Cicognani

Commission on the Discipline of the Sacraments: president Cardinal ;

Benedetto Aloisi Masella

Commission for the Discipline of the Clergy and the Christian People: president Cardinal ;

Pietro Ciriaci

Commission for : president Cardinal Ildebrando Antoniutti;

Religious

Commission on the Sacred Liturgy: president Cardinal ;

Arcadio Larraona

Commission for the Missions: president Cardinal ;

Gregorio Pietro XV Agagianian

Commission on Seminaries, Studies, and Catholic Education: president Cardinal ;

Giuseppe Pizzardo

Commission for the Lay Apostolate and for the Media: president Cardinal .

Fernando Cento

The Church must present the world with a statement of its self-understanding.

Aggiornamento must continue, not by breaking with tradition, but by removing what is defective.

The Church must work towards unity among all Christians. Saying this, he turned to the non-Catholic observers and apologized for any injury the Catholic Church might have caused other Christians.

The Church must engage in dialogue with the world: "not to conquer but to serve, not to despise but to appreciate, not to condemn but to comfort and save".

The Paschal mystery of Christ's death and resurrection is made present to us through the liturgy, which is a communal celebration and not just the action of the priest (SC 7). Each person present participates in it according to his/her role (SC 28, 29).

Christ is present to us not only under the appearance of bread and wine, but also in the Word of God, in the person of the priest and in the gathered assembly (SC 7).

"The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows" (SC 10).

"In the restoration and promotion of the sacred liturgy, [...] full and active participation by all the people is the aim to be considered before all else" (SC 14).

In order to be better understood, the rites should be simplified and a limited use of the vernacular is permitted, but the use of Latin is to be preserved (SC 36).

There needs to be more reading from holy scripture, and it is to be more varied and suitable (SC 35).

A certain degree of local adaptation is permissible (SC 37-40).

Its proportions were massive. “It was not the biggest gathering in the sense of number of people assembled at a given moment. But it was the biggest meeting, that is, a gathering with an agenda on which the sustained participation of all parties was required and which resulted in actual decisions. It was a gathering the likes of which had never been seen before”.

[270]

Its breadth was international. It was the first ecumenical council to be truly “ecumenical” (“world-wide”) since it was the first to be attended by bishops originating from all parts of the world, including some 250 native Asian and African bishops. (At Vatican I a century earlier, Asia and Africa were represented by European missionaries.)

The scope and variety of issues it addressed was unprecedented: The topics discussed ranged from the most fundamental theological issues (such as the nature of the Church or the nature of Revelation) to eminently practical ones (such as nuns' habits and music in the liturgy), including topics no general Council had addressed before, such as collaboration of the Catholic Church with the concerns of the secular world and the Church's relation to non-Christian religions.

[271]

Its style was novel. It inaugurated a new style of conciliar teaching, a style that was called “pastoral” as it avoided anathemas and condemnations.

Information could be transmitted almost immediately. It was the first general council in the era of mass-circulation newspapers, radio and television. As a result, information (and reactions) could be reported immediately, something beyond the realm of possibility at other ecumenical councils.

Legacy[edit]

Vatican II participants who later became pope[edit]

Of those who took part in the council's opening session, four later became pope:[301][302]

Acta synodalia sacrosancti concilii oecumenici Vaticani II. Typis polyglottis Vaticani. 1970–91. 31 folios. (Official record of daily proceedings during Vatican II, in Latin) Available online at

https://archive.org/details/second-vatican-council

Alberigo, Giuseppe (1995). "The Announcement of the Council: From the Security of the Fortress to the Lure of the Quest". In Alberigo, Giuseppe; Komonchak, Joseph A. (eds.). History of Vatican II. Vol. I. Peeters and Orbis. pp. 1–54.

Alberigo, Giuseppe (2006), A Brief History of Vatican II, translated by Sherry, Matthew, Maryknoll: Orbis Books,  1-57075-638-4

ISBN

Fouilloux, Étienne (1995). "The Antepreparatory Phase: the Slow Emergence from Inertia (January 1959-October 1962)". In Alberigo, Giuseppe; Komonchak, Joseph (eds.). History of Vatican II. Vol. I. Peeters & Orbis. pp. 55–166.

Hahnenberg, Edward (2007), A Concise Guide to the Documents of Vatican II, City: Saint Anthony Messenger Press,  978-0-86716-552-4

ISBN

Hastings, Adrian (1991). "The Key Texts". In Hastings, Adrian (ed.). Modern Catholicism: Vatican II and After. SPCK. pp. 56–67.

Heraty, J, ed. (1967), , New Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. XIV, Faculty of Catholic University of America (1 ed.), New York: McGraw-Hill, ISBN 978-0-07-010235-4, OCLC 34184550

"Vatican Council II"

Laurentin, René (1962). L'enjeu du concile. Paris: Centurion.

(2008). What Happened at Vatican II. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-04749-5.

O'Malley, John W.

Raguer, Hilari (1997). "Profile of the Assembly". In Alberigo; Komonchak, Joseph A. (eds.). History of Vatican II. Vol. II. Peeters & Orbis. pp. 169–232.

Ratzinger, Joseph (2009). Theological Highlights of Vatican II. New York: Paulist Press.

Ricciardi, Andrea (1997). "The Tumultuous Opening Days of the Council". In Alberigo, Giuseppe; Komonchak, Joseph A. (eds.). History of Vatican II. Vol. II. Peeters & Orbis. pp. 1–68.

Rynne, Xavier (1999). Vatican Council II. Orbis Books.  1-57075-293-1.

ISBN

Sullivan, Maureen (2002), , New York: Paulist Press, ISBN 0-8091-4133-7

101 Questions and Answers on Vatican II

Vorgrimler, Herbert (1989), Commentaries on the Documents of the Council, Crossroad Publishing Company,  978-0-8245-0979-8

ISBN

Wenger, Antoine (1963). Vatican II. Première session. Paris: Centurion.

(2014). The Inside Story of Vatican II. TAN books. ISBN 978-0-89555-186-3. Formerly titled The Rhine Flows into the Tiber: a History of Vatican II (1967)

Wiltgen, Ralph M.

Wittstadt, Klaus (1995). "On the Eve of the Second Vatican Council (July 1-October 10, 1962)". In Alberigo, Giuseppe; Komonchak, Joseph A. (eds.). History of Vatican II. Vol. I. Peeters & Orbis. pp. 405–500.

Acta et documenta concilio oecumenico Vaticano II apparando. Series I (Antepreparatoria). Typis polyglottis Vaticani. 1960–61. 16 folios. (Official record of the Antepreparatory Period, in Latin). Available online at

https://archive.org/details/second-vatican-council

Acta et documenta concilio oecumenico Vaticano II apparando. Series II (Preparatoria). Typis polyglottis Vaticani. 1964–88. 8 folios. (Official record of the Preparatory Period, in Latin). Available online at

https://archive.org/details/second-vatican-council

(1996). Iota Unum: Studio delle variazioni della Chiesa Cattolica nel secolo XX [Iota Unum: Study of the variations of the Catholic Church in the twentieth century]. Kansas City: Sarto House. ISBN 0-9639032-1-7.

Amerio, Romano

Bredeck, Michael (2007). Das Zweite Vatikanum als Konzil des Aggiornamento [Vatican II as a Council of Aggionamento] (in German). Paderborn: Schöningh.  978-3-506-76317-4.

ISBN

(2008). Kunst und Kirche im 20. Jahrhundert. Die Rezeption des Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzils [Culture and Church in the 20th Century: The Reception of the Second Vatican Council] (in German). Paderborn: Schöningh. ISBN 978-3-506-76388-4.

van Bühren, Ralf

Butler, Christopher. . Vatican II: Voice of the Church. Retrieved May 23, 2020.

"The Church's English Voice: Bishop Christopher Butler, OSB"

Chenu, Marie-Dominique (2015), Vatican II Notebook, ATF Press,  978-1-925232-32-5.

ISBN

Congar, Yves (2012), My Journal of the Council, Liturgical Press,  978-0-8146-8029-2.

ISBN

de Lubac, Henri (2015), Vatican Council Notebooks: Volume One, Ignatius Press,  978-1-58617-305-0.

ISBN

de Lubac, Henri (2016), Vatican Council Notebooks: Volume Two, Ignatius Press,  978-1-62164-012-7.

ISBN

deMattei, Roberto (2012), The Second Vatican Council - An Unwritten Story, Loreto Publications,  978-1-62292-002-0.

ISBN

Gaillardetz, Richard R., ed. (2020). The Cambridge Companion to Vatican II. Cambridge University Press.  978-1-108-45763-7.

ISBN

Gherardini, Brunero (2011), Il discorso mancato [The missing discourse], Lindau{{}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).

citation

Gherardini, Brunero, , Centre for Mediaeval Studies Leonard Boyle, archived from the original on 2012-01-20. Vatican II in the light of Tradition and Magisterium of the Catholic Church.

Church-Tradition-Magisterium

Horn, Gerd-Rainer (2015), The Spirit of Vatican II: Western European Progressive Catholicism in the Long Sixties, Oxford University Press,  978-0199593255.

ISBN

Huebsch, Bill (1997), Council: Vatican II in Plain English, Resources for Christian Living,  978-0883473498.

ISBN

Kaiser, Robert Blair (1963), Inside the Council: The Story of Vatican II, Burns & Oates.

Komonchak, Joseph A. (1995). "The Struggle for the Council during the Preparation of Vatican II (1960-1962)". In Alberigo, Giuseppe; Komonchak, Joseph A. (eds.). History of Vatican II. Vol. I. Peeters & Orbis. pp. 167–356.

Lefebvre, Archbishop Marcel (1998), I Accuse the Council!, Angelus Press,  978-0-935952-68-1.

ISBN

Linden, Ian (2009). Global Catholicism: diversity and change since Vatican II. 41 Great Russell St, London: Hurst & Co. p. 337.  978-1-85065-957-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)

ISBN

Lehner, Ulrich (2016), On the Road to Vatican II: German Catholic Enlightenment and Reform of the Church, 1517 Media; Fortress Press,  978-1-5064-0898-9.

ISBN

McInerny, Ralph M. (1998), What Went Wrong with Vatican II?: The Catholic Crisis Explained, Sophia Institute Press,  978-0918477798.

ISBN

; Komonchak, Joseph A.; Schloesser, Stephen; Ormerod, Neil J. (2008). Vatican II: Did Anything Happen?. New York: Continuum. ISBN 978-0-8264-2890-5.

O'Malley, John W.

(2009). Receiving the Council: Theological and Canonical Insights and Debates. Collegeville: Liturgical Press. ISBN 978-0-8146-5377-7.

Orsy, Ladislas

Oxfort, Ursula (2000), Pope John's Revolution: A Critical Study of the Second Vatican Council, Christian Counter Revolution,  978-0814680742.

ISBN

Rush, Ormond (2019), The Vision of Vatican II: Its Fundamental Principles, Liturgical Press,  978-0814680742.

ISBN

Saward, John. . Boston: CRUX. Retrieved May 23, 2020.

"Making the True Vatican II Our Own"

Sinke Guimarães, Atila (1997). In the Murky Waters of Vatican II. Metairie: MAETA.  1-889168-06-8.

ISBN

Taouk, Fr. Raymond, , Modern problems, Catholic Apologetics.

"What are Roman Catholics to think of Vatican II? On the doctrinal authority of the pastoral council"

at Vatican.va

Documents of the Second Vatican Council