Vatican II: three questions to understand the council – Regards protestants

Venerable brothers and dear sons! We are making before you, with a certain fear and a little emotion in our voices, but also with a humble resolution of words, the project of a double celebration: a diocesan synod for the City [Rome] and an ecumenical council for the universal Church”. This was launched by Pope John XXIII (1881-1963), on January 25, 1959, during a religious ceremony which took place at the Basilica of Saint-Paul-outside-the-Walls, to a stunned audience, according to The world. On October 11, 1962, three years later, he opened the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican (Vatican II) and brought the Catholic Church into modernity.

Why does Pope John XXIII make such a decision?

As specified The world, nothing at the time suggested such a change within the Church. Later, John XXII will tell of having had a “inspiration”. Other sources report that he wished “ventilate the Church”. The context (cold war, nuclear threat, secularization) may have weighed in the balance. “The problems around the world were immense. We didn’t know each other and we didn’t know the different situations, even in the Catholic world. John XXIII thinks all of a sudden: there, it would take a council”, testifies Loris Capovilla, private secretary to the pope at the time, in a documentary broadcast by The day of the Lord.

What are the main reforms adopted during Vatican II?

It was 60 years ago, then. The council opened on October 11, 1962, under the pontificate of John XXIII, and ended on December 8, 1965, under Paul VI. Result: four “constitutions”, nine “decrees” and three “declarations”. The biggest change: the end of the mass in Latin. From now on, the celebration is done in vernacular languages, allowing greater participation of the faithful. Also, the priest makes more use of the latter, who intervene during the office, notes The Parisian. It was at this time that the Church opened up to the evolutions of the modern world (democracy, human rights).

For historian Denis Pelletier, author of the book Catholics in France, from 1789 to the present day (Albin Michel, 2019), quoted by The worldthe massive characteristic of these four constitutions is a form of openness to contemporary culture. A partial opening, certainly, but for the first time the Church affirms that it shares something with the modern world: a form of humanism.”

Finally, a change is taking place in the relationship to other religions. Now the Church indicates that non-Catholics are not necessarily doomed to damnation, writes The world. Dialogue and peace between religions are essential. And twenty years after the Second World War, anti-Semitism is clearly condemned. “It is a question of reviewing the teaching of the Church on the Jews, of rethinking the theological relationship of the Church to Judaism. We move from a theology of substitution (the Church replaces Israel, which is reproved by God) to the theology of filiation”, underlines the historian Philippe Chenaux, author of Time of Vatican II. An introduction to the history of the council (Desclée de Brouwer, 2012), also cited by Le Monde.

What traces left by the council today?

Since then, two currents have clashed. There are those who continue to advocate the renewal of the Church and to be more open to modernity. And the others who believe that the council is enough. Concretely, these two currents are opposed on several subjects (contraception, abortion, democratization of the Church, marriage, marriage of priests, place of women). While the number of baptized people is falling, child crime has tarnished the image of the Church, 60 years after the opening of the Second Vatican Council, Catholicism is facing major challenges and crises. Some think that the council accelerated the difficulties. But for others, it is not far enough. In a column published by The crossJean-Louis Schlegel, philosopher and sociologist of religions, explains that “the implosion we are witnessing today would have taken place much sooner, and worse, and my conviction is that there was not too much of the Second Vatican Council, but too little.”

Vatican II: three questions to understand the council – Regards protestants