Eighty years after the First Vatican Council, Pope John XXIII felt that the changing world required a reorientation of the Catholic Church. According to the Pope, the Church had to be brought back up to date. He convened the Second Vatican Council for this purpose. The Second Vatican Council would make decisions that would give the Church new impetus.
First Vatican Council
The First Vatican Council was held from 1879 to 1880. At this council, the Church tried to respond to the changing world. New inventions had brought about an Industrial Revolution, kings and emperors had seen their power diminished in favor of elected governments.
The new time
In eighty years, after the end of the First Vatican Council, it became apparent that the world had once again changed significantly. New technologies had made unprecedented means of communication possible, such as telephone, radio and television. New means of transport had made distances bridgeable more quickly. Major world wars had left their mark on all continents. Dictatorships had been overthrown, and democracy had made a decisive breakthrough in many countries. The world seemed ready for more freedom, people seemed ready for more freedom, more opportunities for individual development.
Pope John XXIII
The Pope who understood that the changing world also needed a changed Church was Pope John XXIII . In 1959 he called for renewal, to bring the Roman Catholic Church up to date. For this he called for a Second Vatican Council. Logically, a fair amount of time passes between the moment of calling and the beginning of such a council. After all, good preparation takes time, not only organizationally, but also substantively.
Second Vatican Council
On October 11, 1962, Pope John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council . This council is also referred to simply by the Latin name Vatican II . John XXIII asked for aggiornamento during the opening ceremony, attended by more than 2,500 bishops from all over the world . This Italian word means modernization , or better: bringing it up to date . Pope John XXIII believed that the Church could not avoid modernization, that a breath of fresh air was necessary. That was also the reason why non- Catholics such as Protestants, Orthodox and representatives of other religions or ideologies were also invited to attend the council as observers.
Pope John XXIII / Source: Unknown, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Goals
Gaudet Mater Ecclesia, the Pope formulated the main goals of the Second Vatican Council:
- Defending and strengthening the truth of the faith. Not only to archive old values, but also to spread faith in a way that suits modern times.
- Combating errors. Not by condemning it severely, but by using the medicine of mercy
- To promote unity among Christians and all other people.
New theology
After the Second World War, a new movement within Catholic theology emerged in France, the Nouvelle Théologie (New Theology). An important principle of this movement was that the Church should base itself more on original sources, the Bible, the teachings of the apostles and their first successors. This resulted in renewed interest in the writings of the Church Fathers. The representatives of the New Theology were present as advisors and had a major influence on the outcomes of the Second Vatican Council.
Pope Paul VI / Source: Inmaculadamg parroquia, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Change of Pope
Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, died in 1963. Naturally, this and the election of a new pope delayed the council. His successor, Pope Paul VI, would close the council on December 8, 1965.
Outcomes
A number of important decisions were made during the council, such as:
- It was also allowed to pronounce the liturgy in the vernacular.
- Latin was confirmed as the universal language of the Church.
- Gregorian chant was confirmed as music appropriate to the Roman liturgy.
- The position of bishops, but also of lay people in the church, was strengthened.
- Recognition of principled freedom of conscience and religion. In other words: respect for other religions and other Christian movements.
- People spoke out against the nuclear arms race, a current issue at the height of the Cold War .
- Protestants and Catholics recognize each other’s baptism.
And how do we interpret that?
The great difficulty with important, concise decisions is of course the question of how to interpret them and translate them into practice. In the years following the council, the various decrees of the council have been interpreted quite differently. On the one hand, it was understood as a call to break with the past, as a revolution within the church. On the other hand, it has been called for to interpret the council as an evolution. In particular, Pope Benedict He later qualified this and indicated that the council had to be interpreted according to the hermeneutics of continuity.
The Netherlands
In some countries, especially in the Netherlands, the discussion was heated and the church threatened to end up in a kind of discord. The Pastoral Council , held between 1968 and 1970, sought the correct interpretation of the Vatican Council. While some felt that modernization had gone too far, others felt that it did not go far enough. Only after 1980 did things calm down again.
Elaboration
Work is still ongoing on further elaboration and application of the council decisions. It is proving difficult to continue to incorporate the achievements of the Second Vatican Council into an increasingly rapidly changing world, in which people look at church, faith and religion in a different way.
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- Council of Trent
- The First Vatican Council
- The Popes of the Catholic Church
- The country of the Pope, from Papal State to Vatican City
- The Conclave: The election of a new Pope