40th
anniversary of the end of the Second Vatican Council
a brief look back on its decrees and legacy
Pope John XXIII opened the Council with great pageantry on
Unlike previous Councils, the intent of Vatican II was to be pastoral in nature with the purpose not to clarify Church teaching so much as to make it more understandable to the average believer.
Pope John, himself, spoke at the beginning of the Council of a necessary balance, reminding the bishops that the Church must “never depart from the sacred patrimony of truth received from the Fathers” and at the same time, “she must look to the present, to the new conditions and forms of life introduced into the modern world which have opened new avenues to the Catholic apostolate.”
The Council's four sessions from 1962 to 1965 and its 16 landmark documents brought on an extraordinary number of changes in the life of the Roman Catholic Church. Some of these changes were liturgical (a greater focus on Scripture; the priest celebrating Mass facing the people instead of with his back to parishioners; the Mass in Latin gave way to Mass in the vernacular; some changes were related to the way the Church is organized - the changing role of the priest and the increased role of the laity); and many of them touched upon the role of the Church in the world (the need to evangelize and a new willingness to engage in ecumenical and multi-faith dialogue). Much of the work of Vatican II is still in the process of being implemented today, forty years later!
Pope Benedict XVI, who participated in the Council as a theological expert, has been speaking about the importance of the Council's documents. Although he has criticized some postconciliar changes, the pope has made it clear that Vatican II will be the "compass" of his papacy setting direction. It will be up to the new pope to provide the details. The pope also has emphasized that implementation of the Council is an ongoing task in the Church, not just something that happened 40 years ago. One goal is to make sure Vatican II is not viewed as ancient history by young generations of Catholics. Younger Catholics may not be as intellectually aware of the Council, but they are continually experiencing its effects.
Sometimes described as a revolution, Vatican II did not just
appear out of the blue. There had been 20 previous ecumenical councils in the
Church's history including the First Vatican Council in 1869-70.
The theological ferment of the mid-20th Century helped lay the groundwork for Vatican II.
Pioneering theologians were trying to build bridges between
Christianity's ancient truths and the contemporary world but were silenced in
some fashion by the
Although Pope John XXIII (1958-1963) is rightly given credit for initiating the Second Vatican Council, the preparations for the Council had been discussed for many years. But it was Pope John, a student of Church history with firsthand experience of the joys and troubles of the world, who brought the spirit of informed openness that so shaped Vatican II. He surprised almost everyone when, after only three months as pontiff, he announced he was convening the Council and spoke of the need to update the Church and promote Christian unity.
Preparation for the Council took almost three years, and the pope, already diagnosed with cancer when it began, presided over only the first of four annual sessions in 1962. Between 2,000 and 2,500 bishops attended each Vatican II session.
From the beginnng, bishops recognized that their task was not just updating church practices but also a process of “ressourcement,” or going back to the sources of the faith. The invitation to Protestants, Orthodox and other non-Catholics to attend had already made Vatican II an historic event.
It is also to the credit of Pope John's successor, Paul VI (1963-1978), that the Council moved forward. Following Pope John's death, Pope Paul VI led the completion of the Council's work, directing the important follow-up work in areas of liturgy, ecumenism, religious life, and evangelization.
In the end, the Council issued four constitutions: on the liturgy, the Church's structure and nature, on the Church in the modern world and on divine revelation. It produced nine decrees: on the Church and the media, ecumenism, Eastern Catholic churches, bishops, priestly formation, religious life, the laity, priestly ministry and missionary activity. It issued three declarations: on non-Christian religions, Christian education, and religious freedom.
Today, only six American bishops are still alive who attended all four Council sessions. This points to the ever increasing importance of the Conciliar texts to guide the Council’s implementation and renewal.
And, in our history, Vatican II can be recognized as one of the great moments of our Church marking a time when the Church took a look at where it was and where the world was - and sought to close the gap.