INTRODUCTION TO THE CONCILIA DOCUMENTS OF VATICAN II
BY REVD. FR. AUGUSTINE ‘SEGUN FASIKU (PhD).
{JUDICIAL VICAR OF IBADAN PROVINCE}
Preamble:
The story of the Second Vatican Council in the history of the Church will not be complete without the mention of Cardinal Loris Francesco Capovilla, who as personal secretary to Pope John XXIII helped prepare the Roman Catholic hierarchy for the opening of the Second Vatican Council.
The two men formed an instant understanding. Cardinal Roncalli engaged Father Capovilla as his private secretary and, after the death of Pius XII in 1958, as one of his representatives to the papal conclave convened to elect a new pope. Cardinal Roncalli’s choice of personal secretary drew concern from Msgr. Erminio Macacek, the vicar of Venice. He told the future Pope: “Your eminence, he is a good priest, he is good, but he is not very healthy. He will not live for long.” And Cardinal Roncalli immediately replied: “Well, if he is not healthy, he will come with me and will die with me.” After his election to the papacy, Pope John XXIII took his assistant with him to the Vatican.
Cardinal Capovilla is considered to be behind some of the most ground-breaking episodes of St. John XXIII’s life. He encouraged the Pope’s meeting with Jules Isaac, a French historian and Jew. The meeting provided an example of Catholic-Jewish friendship. The encounter between Isaac and John XXIII is the seed which blossomed into the Second Vatican Council declaration Nostra Aetate on the relations of the Church with non-Christian religions.
Then in Nov. 23, 1962, letter to then-Msgr. Capovilla from Cardinal Pietro Pavan suggested that an encyclical be drafted. This encyclical was published in April 1963 as Pacem in Terris.
“In Capovilla, Roncalli got much more than a secretary: He got a spiritual son, a literary executor, a confidant and “a zealous guardian and sound interpreter” of St. John XXIII’s memory. In the first days of the new papacy,” Pope John XXIII turned to him and said: “My desk is piling up with problems, questions, requests, hopes. What’s really necessary is a council”.
Worried that Pope John XXIII, at 77, might not be up to the demands of a council, he recommended a go-slow policy. The pope, he argued, should use his considerable personal charm to build a base of support and avoid major initiatives.
He was overruled, and Pope John XXIII sent him in early 1959 to Venice, Padua and Bergamo to give a series of addresses aimed at easing apprehensions about the proposed council and countering the impression in certain quarters that the new pontiff was overzealous.
The council opened in October 1962, and it was Father Capovilla who suggested to Pope John XXIII at the end of the council’s opening day that he address the crowd in St. Peter’s Square, estimated at 500,000 faithful. It proved to be a masterstroke of public relations. In plain language, the pope expressed his hopes for the council and concluded with the now famous words, “Now go back home and give your little children a kiss — tell them it is from Pope John XXIII.”
In June 1963, it fell to Father Capovilla to tell Pope John XXIII, in the terminal stages of stomach cancer, that there was no longer any hope. “I must be totally honest with you: Your time has come,” he recalled saying, in an interview with The Tablet in 1992. The pope thanked him for his loyalty. However, he responded in the following words:
“We have worked, we have served. We have loved. We have not stopped to gather the stones which were thrown against us from one side or the other of the way, to throw them back.”
He wrote a memoir of his time with the pope, “The Heart and Mind of John XXIII: His Secretary’s Intimate Recollections,” published in 1964. Several years earlier the pope had entrusted him with the diaries he had kept since age 14, with permission to publish them after his death. They were included in “Journal of a Soul,” published in English translation in 1965.
Introduction:
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.
Pope John XXIII called the council because he felt the Church needed "updating" (in Italian: aggiornamento “tell the story of 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:
Lumen gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church on "the universal call to holiness"
Apostolicam Actuositatem, a decree on The Apostolate of the Laity
Orientalium Ecclesiarum, a decree On Eastern Catholic Churches
Dei verbum, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation emphasized the study of scripture as "the soul of theology"
Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy to restore "the full and active participation by all the people of God"
Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World concerned the promotion of peace, the gift of self, and the Churches mission to non-Catholics
. Dignitatis Humanae, a declaration on religious freedom
. Unitatis Redintegratio, a decree on Christian ecumenism
. Nostra aetate, a declaration about non-Christian religions
The council had a significant impact on the Church due to the scope and variety of issues it addressed. Some of the most notable changes were in performance of the Mass, including that vernacular languages could be authorized as well as the Latin language.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Pope Pius XII's 1943 encyclical Divino afflante spiritu 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.
ANNOUNCEMENT AND EXPECTATIONS
After the death of Pius XII, John XXIII gave notice of his intention to summon an ecumenical council on 25 January 1959, less than three months after his election in October 1958. His announcement in the chapter hall of the Benedictine monastery attached to the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome came as a surprise to the cardinals present.
He had tested the idea only ten days before with one of them, his Cardinal Secretary of State Domenico Tardini, who gave enthusiastic support to the idea. Although the pope later said the idea came to him in a flash in his conversation with Tardini, two cardinals had earlier attempted to interest him on the idea. They were two of the most conservative, Ernesto Ruffini and Alfredo Ottaviani, who had already in 1948 proposed the idea to Pius XII and who put it before John XXIII on 27 October 1958.
Over the course of the next 3 years, the Pope would make many statements describing the results he expected from the council. They formed something like 3 concentric circles:
1. For the Catholic Church, he expected a renewal which he described variously as a "new Pentecost", a "new springtime", a new "blossoming", a rejuvenation with greater vigour of the Body of Christ that is the Church". This would be achieved by the "updating" (aggiornamento) or "adapting" of Church practices to new circumstances and a restatement of her beliefs in a way that would connect with modern man.
2. Within the wider Christian family, he sought progress toward reunion of all Christians.
3. For the whole human family, he expected the council to contribute toward resolving major social and economic problems, such as war, hunger, and underdevelopment.
Two less solemn statements are attributed to John XXIII about the purpose of the council. One is about opening of the windows of the Church to let in some fresh air; the other about shaking off the imperial dust accumulated on the throne of St. Peter. They have been repeated over and over, usually without any indication of source.
The source for the second statement is Cardinal Léger of Montréal, as reported by Congar. As for the first statement, it has been repeated so many times that it may be impossible to find out if and when the Pope said it.
Once the officials of the Curia had recovered from their shock at the Pope's announcement of a Council, they realized that it could be the culmination of the Church's program of resistance to Protestantism, the Enlightenment and all the other errors of the modern world. It was the providential opportunity to give the stamp of conciliar infallibility to the teachings of the most recent Popes and to the Curia's vision of the role of the Church in the modern world, provided the Pope could be convinced to forget about aggiornamento.
On the other side were those theologians and bishops who had been working towards a new way of doing things, some of whom had been silenced and humiliated by the Curia in the 1940s and 1950s. For them, the council came as a "divine surprise", the opportunity to convince the bishops of the world to turn away from a fortress-like defensive attitude to the modern world and set off in a new direction towards a renewed theology of the Church and of the laity, ecumenism and the reform of the liturgy.
So, soon after the Pope's announcement, the stage was set for a confrontation between two drivers: continuing the resistance to the modern world or taking seriously the Pope's call for renewal. The council eventually was officially summoned by the apostolic constitution Humanae Salutis (in the year of man’s redemption) on 25 December 1961.
Preparation
Preparation for the council took over three years, from the summer of 1959 to the autumn of 1962. The first year was known officially as the "ante preparatory period". On 17 May 1959, Pope John XXIII appointed an Ante Preparatory Commission to conduct a vast consultation of the Catholic world concerning topics to be examined at the council. Three groups of people were consulted: the bishops of the world, the Catholic universities and faculties of theology, and the departments of the Curia. By the following summer, 2,049 individuals and institutions had replied with 9,438 individual vota ("wishes"). Some were typical of past ways of doing things, asking for new dogmatic definitions or condemnations of errors. Others were in the spirit of aggiornamento, asking for reforms and new ways of doing things.
The next two years (known officially as the "preparatory period") were occupied with preparing the drafts, called schemas that would be submitted to the bishops for discussion at the council. On 5 June 1960, ten Preparatory Commissions were created, to which a total of 871 bishops and experts were appointed. Each preparatory commission had the same area of responsibility as one of the main departments of the Curia and was chaired by the cardinal who headed that department. From the 9,438 proposals, a list of topics was created, and these topics were parcelled out to these commissions according to their area of competence. Some commissions prepared a separate schema for each topic they were asked to treat, others a single schema encompassing all the topics they were handed.
ORGANIZATION
Paragraphs and numbers in this section refer to the Council regulations published in the motu proprio Appropinquante concilio, of 6 August 1962.
Council Fathers (§1): All the bishops of the world, as well as the heads of the main religious orders of men, were entitled to be "Council Fathers", that is, full participants with the right to speak and vote. Their number was about 2,900, though some 500 of them would be unable to attend, either for reasons of health or old age. The Council Fathers in attendance represented 79 countries: 38% were from Europe, 31% from the Americas, 20% from Asia & Oceania, and 10% from Africa. (At Vatican I a century earlier there were 737 Council Fathers, mostly from Europe. At Vatican II, some 250 bishops were native-born Asians and Africans, whereas at Vatican I, there were none at all.
General Congregations: (§3, 20, 33, 38–39, 52–63). The Council Fathers met in daily sittings — known as General Congregations — to discuss the schemas and vote on them. These sittings took place in St. Peter's Basilica every morning until 12:30 Monday to Saturday (except Thursday). The average daily attendance was about 2,200. Stands with tiers of seats for all the Council Fathers had been built on both sides of the central point of St. Peter's square.
All votes required a two-thirds majority. For each schema, after a preliminary discussion there was a vote whether it was considered acceptable in principle, or rejected. If acceptable, debate continued with votes on individual chapters and paragraphs. Bishops could submit amendments, which were then written into the schema if they were requested by many bishops. Votes continued in this way until wide agreement was reached, after which there was a final vote on a document. This was followed some days later by a public session where the Pope promulgated the document as the official teaching of the council, following another ceremonial vote of the Council Fathers. There was an unwritten rule that in order to be considered official Church teaching, a document had to receive an overwhelming majority of votes, somewhere in the area of 90%. This led to many compromises, as well as formulations that were broad enough to be acceptable by people on either side of an issue.
All General Congregations were closed to the public. Council Fathers were under an obligation not to reveal anything that went on in the daily sittings (§26). Secrecy soon broke down, and much information about the daily General Congregations was leaked to the press.
The Pope did not attend General Congregations, but followed the deliberations on closed-circuit television.
Public Sessions: (§2, 44–51). These were similar to General Congregations, except that they were open to the press and television, and the Pope was present. There were 10 public sessions in the course of the council; the opening day of each of the council's four periods, 5 days when the Pope promulgated Council documents, and the final day of the council.
Commissions: (§5-6, 64–70). Much of the detailed work of the council was done in these commissions. Like the preparatory commissions during the preparatory period, they were 10 in number, each covering the same area of Church life as a particular curial department were chaired by the cardinal who headed that department:
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 Religious: President Cardinal Ildebrando Antoniutti;
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.
Each commission included 25 Council Fathers (16 elected by the council and 9 appointed by the Pope) as well as consultors (official periti appointed by the Pope). In addition, the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, appointed during the preparatory period, continued to exist under its president Cardinal Augustin Bea throughout the 4 years of the council, with the same powers as a commission. The commissions were tasked with revising the schemas as Council Fathers submitted amendments. They met in the afternoons or evenings. Procedure was more informal than in the general assemblies: there was spontaneous debate, sometimes heated, and Latin was not the only language used. Like the General Congregations, they were closed to the public and subject to the same rules of secrecy.
Official Periti: (§9-10). These are experts in theology, canon law and other areas of the church’s discipline and they were all appointed by the Pope to advise the Council Fathers, and were assigned as consultors to the commissions, where they played an important part in re-writing the council documents. At the beginning of the council, there were 224 official periti, but their number eventually rises to 480. They could attend the debates in the General Congregations, but could not speak. The theologians who had been silenced during the 1940s and 1950s, such as Yves Congar and Henri de Lubac, and some theologians who were under suspicion in Roman circles at the beginning of the 1960s, such as Karl Rahner and Hans Küng, were appointed periti because of their expertise. Their appointment served to vindicate their ideas and gave them a platform from which they could work to further their views.
Private Periti :(§11). Each bishop was allowed to bring along a personal theological adviser of his choice. Known as “private periti”, they were not official Council participants and could not attend General Congregations or commission meetings. But like the official periti, they gave informal talks to groups of bishops, bringing them up to date on developments in their particular area of expertise. Karl Rahner, Joseph Ratzinger and Hans Küng first went to the council as some bishop's personal theologian, and were later appointed official periti. Some notable theologians, such as Edward Schillebeeckx, remained private periti for the whole duration of the council.
Observers :(§18) . An important innovation was the invitation by Pope John XXIII to Orthodox and Protestant Churches to send observers to the council. Eventually 21 denominations or bodies such as the World Council of Churches were represented. The observers were entitled to sit in on all general assemblies (but not the commissions) and they mingled with the Council Fathers during the breaks and let them know their reactions to speeches or to schemas. Their presence helped to break down centuries of mistrust.
Lay auditors: While not provided for in the Official Regulations, a small number of lay people were invited to attend as "auditors" beginning with the Second Session. While not allowed to take part in debate, a few of them were asked to address the council about their concerns as lay people. The first auditors were all male, but beginning with the third session, a number of women were also appointed.
DOCUMENTS OF THE COUNCIL
Vatican II's teaching is contained in sixteen documents: 4 constitutions, 9 decrees and 3 declarations. While the constitutions are clearly the documents of highest importance, "the distinction between decrees and declarations, no matter what it originally meant, has become meaningless".
For each document, approval of the final text was followed a few days later by the pope's promulgation of the document as the Church's official teaching. On the day of promulgation, there was a second vote of approval by the Council Fathers: it was "basically ceremonial" since the document's final text had already been approved a few days earlier. It is this earlier vote that best indicates the degree of support for, or opposition to, the document. Most documents were approved by overwhelming margins. In only 6 cases were the negative votes in the triple digits. In 3 of these cases (Church and Modern World, Non-Christian Religions and Religious Freedom), 10% to 12% of the Fathers rejected the document on theological grounds. In 2 other cases (Media and Christian Education), the negative votes mostly expressed disappointment in a weak text, rather than opposition.
CONSTITUTION ON THE SACRED LITURGY
Main article: Sacrosanctum Concilium
The abolition of Friday of Sorrows of the Virgin Mary is an example of changes in the Liturgical Calendar after the council.
Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, was the blueprint for an extensive reform of the Western liturgy.
Chapter 1 of the Constitution set out principles to guide this reform.
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 is need for 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).
Chapter 2: Mass. The Eucharist is both the sacrifice of Christ's body and blood and a paschal banquet (SC 47). In addition to repeating the need for active participation (SC 47), simplification of the rites (SC 50) and a greater variety of Scripture readings (SC 51), the chapters and decrees that certain practices had disappeared, such as the prayer of the faithful (SC 53), concelebration (SC 57), and communion under both kinds for the laity (SC 55), are to be restored under certain conditions, and that the homily should be a commentary on the Scripture readings (SC 52).
Chapter 3: Sacraments. The rite of each sacrament is to be simplified in order to make its meaning clear (SC 62); the catechumenate is to be restored for adult baptism (SC 64); the link between confirmation and baptism is to be made clear (SC 71); the sacrament then called extreme unction is to become a sacrament for those who are seriously ill (anointing of the sick) and not just of those who are on the point of death (SC 73-5); funerals are to focus on the hope of the resurrection and not on mourning (SC 81), and local cultural practices may be included in the celebration of some sacraments such as weddings (SC 63).
Chapters 4 to 7 provide that the divine office (now called Liturgy of the Hours) is to be adapted to modern conditions by reducing its length for those in active ministry (SC 97), that the calendar is to be revised to give Sunday and the mysteries of Christ priority over saints' days (SC 108), and that traditional music in form of Gregorian chant (SC 116) and organ music (SC 120) are to be preserved, congregational singing is to be encouraged (SC 114) and the use of other instruments is permissible (SC 120).
The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy launched the most extensive revision of the liturgy in the history of the Church.
The invitation for more active, conscious participation of the laity through Mass in the vernacular did not stop with the constitution on the liturgy. It was taken up by the later documents of the council that called for a more active participation of the laity in the life of the Church. Pope Francis referred to a turn away from clericalism toward a new age of the laity. And this in my opinion is what gave birth the idea of synod of synodality of the Holy Father, Pope Francis.
DOGMATIC CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH
Main article: Lumen gentium
The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen gentium ("Light of the Nations") gave direction to several of the documents that followed it, including those on Ecumenism, on Non-Christian Religions, on Religious Freedom, and on The Church in the Modern World. According to Paul VI, "the most characteristic and ultimate purpose of the teachings of the Council" is the universal call to holiness. John Paul II calls this "an intrinsic and essential aspect of the council Fathers' teaching on the Church", where "all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity" (Lumen gentium, 40). Francis, in his apostolic letter Evangelii Gaudium (17) which laid out the programme for his pontificate, said that "on the basis of the teaching of the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium" he would discuss the entire People of God which evangelizes, missionary outreach, the inclusion of the poor in society, and peace and dialogue within society. Francis has also followed the call of the council for a more collegial style of leadership, through synods of bishops and through his personal use of a worldwide advisory council of eight cardinals.
The Second Vatican Council encouraged the scriptural reading of the Bible rather than relying solely on devotional writings, booklets and the lives of the Catholic saints, as had the Council of Trent and the First Vatican Council.
A most contentious conclusion that seems to follow from the Bishops' teaching in the decree is that while "in some sense other Christian communities are institutionally defective," these communities can "in some cases be more effective as vehicles of grace." Belgian Bishop Emil de Smedt, commenting on institutional defects that had crept into the Catholic Church, "contrasted the hierarchical model of the church that embodied the triad of 'clericalism, legalism, and triumphalism' with one that emphasized the 'people of God', filled with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and radically equal in grace," that was adorned in Lumen Gentium.
DOGMATIC CONSTITUTION ON DIVINE REVELATION
Main article: Dei verbum
The council's document Dei Verbum ("The Word of God") states the principle active in the other council documents that "The study of the sacred page is, as it were, the soul of sacred theology". It is said of Dei Verbum that "arguably it is the most seminal of all the conciliar documents," with the fruits of a return to the Bible as the foundation of Christian life and teaching, evident in the other council documents. Joseph Ratzinger, who became Benedict XVI, said of the emphasis on the Bible in the council that prior to Vatican II the theology manuals continued to confuse "propositions about revelation with the content of revelation. It represented not abiding truths of faith, but rather the peculiar characteristics of post-Reformation polemic." In spite of the guarded approval of biblical scholarship under Pius XII, scholars suspected of Modernism were silenced right up to Vatican II. The council brought a definitive end to the Counter-Reformation and, in a spirit of aggiornamento, reached back "behind St. Thomas himself and the Fathers, to the biblical theology which governs the first two chapters of the Constitution on the Church." "The documents of the Second Vatican Council are shot through with the language of the Bible. ...The church's historical journey away from its earlier focus upon these sources was reversed at Vatican II." For instance, the council's document on the liturgy called for a broader use of liturgical texts, which would now be in the vernacular, along with more enlightened preaching on the Bible explaining "the love affair between God and humankind". The translation of liturgical texts into vernacular languages, the allowance of communion under both kinds for the laity, and the expansion of Scripture readings during the Mass was resonant with the sensibilities of other Christian denominations, thus making the Second Vatican Council "a milestone for Catholic, Protestants, and the Orthodox".
PASTORAL CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH IN THE MODERN WORLD
Main article: Gaudium et Spes
This document, named for its first words Gaudium et Spes ("Joy and Hope"), built on Lumen Gentium's understanding of the Church as the "pilgrim people of God" and as "communion", aware of the long history of the Church's teaching and in touch with what it calls the "signs of the times". It reflects the understanding that Baptism confers on all, the task that Jesus entrusted to the Church, to be on mission to the world in ways that the present age can understand, in cooperation with the on-going work of the Spirit.
Decrees and declarations on the Church as People of God
These seven documents apply the teaching contained in the Constitution on the Church Lumen gentium to the various categories of people in the Church – bishops, priests, religious, laity, Eastern Catholics and to Christian education.
The Pastoral Office of Bishops – The decree Christus Dominus ("Christ the Lord", 1965) deals with practical matters concerning bishops and dioceses, on the basis of the theology of the episcopate found in chapter 3 of Lumen gentium, including collegiality. It deals with the 3 levels where a bishop exercises his ministry: the universal Church, his own diocese and the national or regional level.
The universal Church (CD 4-10). Since the doctrine of collegiality holds that bishops share with the Pope the governance of the universal Church, the decree proposes that there be a council of bishops from around the world to assist the Pope in this governance. It was later referred to as Synod of bishops. And since the true purpose of the Roman Curia is to serve the bishops, it needs to be reorganized and become more international.
The diocese (CD 11-35). The decree gives a job description of the bishop in his ministry as teacher, sanctifier and shepherd. It discusses his relationship to the main office-holders in the diocese, and deals with such practical matters as the need to redraw diocesan boundaries as a result of shifts in population.
The national or regional level (CD 36-44). The decree stresses the need for an intermediate level between the universal Church and the individual diocese: this is the national (or regional) episcopal conference, an institution that did not exist in all countries at the time.
The Ministry and Life of Priests – The decree Presbyterorum Ordinis ("The order of priests", 1965) describes priests as father and teacher" but also "brothers among brothers with all those who have been reborn at the baptismal font. Priests must promote the dignity of the laity, willingly listen to them, acknowledge and diligently foster exalted charisms of the laity, and entrust to the laity duties in the service of the Church, allowing them freedom and room for action. Also, the human and spiritual needs of priests are discussed in detail.
Priestly Training – The decree Optatam totius “Desired renewal of the whole Church”, 1965) seeks to adapt the training of priests to modern conditions. While some of the points made in the decree are quite traditional, such as the insistence that seminaries remain the main place for priestly training, there are interesting proposals for adaptation to new conditions. The first is that instead of having the programme of formation set for the whole Catholic world by the Congregation for Seminaries and Universities in Rome, the bishops of each country may devise a programme that is adapted to the needs of their particular country (though it still needs Rome's approval). Another is that training for the priesthood has to integrate 4 dimensions: spiritual, intellectual, pastoral and human.
Spiritual formation aims to produce a mature minister, and to this end may call on the resources of psychology. There are many proposals for improving intellectual formation: the use of modern teaching methods; a better integration of philosophy and theology; the centrality of Scripture in theological studies; knowledge of other religions. Pastoral formation should be present throughout the course of studies and should include practical experience of ministry. Human relation should promote the relationship between both sexes in the path of formation for Seminarians. Finally, there should be on-going formation after ordination.
Pre-Vatican II Habit
The Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life – The decree Perfectae Caritatis ("Of perfect charity", 1965) deals with the adaptation of religious life to modern conditions. The decree presupposes the theology of the religious life found in chapter 6 of the Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium), to which it adds guidelines for renewal. The two basic principles that should guide this renewal are: "the constant return to the original spirit of the institutes and their adaptation to the changed conditions of our time" (PC 2). The decree deals mainly with religious orders, also known as religious institutes (whose members take vows and live a communal life), but touches also societies of common life (whose members take no vows but live a communal life) and secular institutes (whose members take vows but do not share a communal life).
The decree reiterates well-known views on the religious life, such as the consecrated life as a life of following Christ, the importance of the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and the importance of charity in the life of an order. To these it adds a call for every order, whether contemplative or active, to renew itself, as well as specific proposals for adaptation to new conditions, such as the simplification of the religious habit, the importance of education for members of all religious orders (and not just priests), and the need for poverty not just for individual members but for each order as a whole.
The Apostolate of the Laity – The decree Apostolicam Actuositatem ("Apostolic Activity", 1965) declares that the apostolate of the laity is "not only to bring the message and grace of Christ to men but also to penetrate and perfect the temporal order with the spirit of the Gospel", in every field of life, together or through various groups, with respectful cooperation with the Church's hierarchy.
The Eastern Catholic Churches – The decree Orientalium Ecclesiarum ("Of the Eastern Churches", 1964) deals with the Eastern Catholic Churches, those communities that are in full union with Rome, but have their own distinctive liturgy, customs (such as married priests) and forms of organization (patriarchs and synods). The decree states that they are not simply different rites (as they were commonly called previously) but are sui iuris particular Churches along with the much larger Latin Church, and with the same rights as the Latin Church, including the right to govern themselves according to their traditional organizational practices. The decree affirms certain practices typical of the Eastern Churches, such as the administration of confirmation by priests, as well as the possibility of satisfying Sunday obligation by taking part in the Canonical Hours. It also provides guidelines concerning common worship and shared communion between Eastern Catholics and members of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Christian Education – The declaration Gravissimum Educationis (“importance] of education”, 1965) discusses the importance of education (GE 1), of Christian education (GE 2-7), of Catholic schools (GE 8-9) and of Catholic colleges and universities (GE 10-12). Most of the things in the declaration had been said many times before: the Church has the right to establish Catholic schools; parents have the right to choose the education they want for their children, governments have a duty to fund Catholic schools; and Catholics have a duty to support Catholic schools.
Many observers found the declaration disappointing: Even at the last minute, dissatisfaction with the text was widespread and wide-ranging. It was called probably the most inferior document produced by the Council. But as it was late in the 4th session when everyone was under pressure to bring the council's business to a close, most bishops chose to vote for the text, though close to 9% rejected it.
These 5 documents deal with the Church in its relationship with the surrounding world: other religious groups – non-Catholic Christians, non-Christians – missionary outreach, religious freedom, and the media. Three of them – on ecumenism, non-Christian religions and religious freedom – were important advances in the Church's teaching.
Mission Activity – The decree Ad gentes ("To the Nations", 1965) treats evangelization as the fundamental mission of the Catholic Church, to bring good news to the poor. It includes sections on training missionaries and on forming communities.
Ecumenism – The decree Unitatis Redintegratio ("Restoration of Unity", 1964) opens with the statement: “The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council”. This was a reversal of the Church's previous position, one of hostility or at best, indifference to the ecumenical movement, because the Church claimed the only way unity would come about was if the non-Catholics returned to the true Church. The text produced by the Secretariat for Christian Unity said many things Catholics had not heard before:
Instead of showing hostility or indifference to the ecumenical movement, a movement which originated among Protestant and Orthodox Christians, the decree states it was fostered by the Holy Spirit. Instead of repeating the previous prohibition on Catholics taking part in ecumenical activities, the decree states that a concern for unity is an obligation for all Catholics.
Instead of claiming that disunity is the fault of non-Catholic Christians, the decree states that the Catholic Church must accept its share of the blame and ask for forgiveness. Instead of claiming that the Catholic Church is in no need of reform, the decree states that all Christians, including Catholics, must examine their own faithfulness to Christ's will, and undertake whatever internal reforms are called for. Ecumenism requires a new attitude, a “change of heart” (UR 7), and an interior conversion, on the part of Catholics.
Instead of claiming that only the Catholic Church has the means of salvation, the decree states that non-Catholic Christians have many of the elements of the true Church and, thanks to these, they can achieve salvation. All baptized are members of Christ's body. Catholics must get rid of false images of non-Catholics and come to appreciate the riches of their traditions.
Theological experts from both sides should enter into dialogue, in which each side sets out clearly its understanding of the Gospel. It should be remembered there is a hierarchy of truths, that not all teachings are equally central to the faith. Christians of various traditions should pray together, though intercommunion is still not possible. However, Catholics must undertake actions for the common good of humanity.
The last chapter addresses the situation of the Eastern Orthodox and of Protestants. The Orthodox are very close to the Catholic Church: they have valid sacraments and a valid priesthood, and though their customs and liturgical practices are different, this is not an obstacle to unity. Protestants comprise many denominations and their closeness to the Catholic Church varies according to the denomination; however all of them share with Catholics the belief in Jesus as saviour, the Bible, baptism, worship and the effort to lead a moral life.
This new way of considering the issue of Church unity met with great approval at the council and was adopted with very few dissenting voices.
Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions – The declaration Nostra aetate ("In our time", 1965), the shortest of Vatican II's documents, is a brief commentary on non-Christian religions, with a special section on the Jews. Pope John XXIII wanted the council to condemn anti-Semitism, including any Catholic teaching that might encourage anti-Semitism. It was felt the way to avoid stirring up trouble in the Middle East was to include the passage on the Jews within a broader document about non-Christian religions.
Avoiding argument or criticism, the declaration points out some positive features of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. “The Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is holy and true in these religions"; they often “reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all men and women” (NA 2).
As for the Jews, the declaration says they are very dear to God: “God does not take back the gifts he bestowed or the choice he made” (NA 4). Jews are not rejected or cursed by God because of the death of Jesus; neither all Jews then, nor any Jew today, can be blamed for the death of Jesus. The Church condemns all hatred and anti-Semitism or hatred against Jews or the likes. And the declaration ends with a condemnation of all forms of discrimination based on religion or ethnicity.
In the Declaration, a Council for the first time in history acknowledges the search for the absolute by other men and by whole races and peoples, and honours the truth and holiness in other religions as the work of the one living God. Furthermore, in it the Church gives glory to God for his enduring faithfulness towards his chosen people, the Jews.
Religious Freedom – The declaration Dignitatis Humanae ("Of the Dignity of the Human Person", 1965), "on the right of the person and of communities to social and civil freedom in matters of religious", is the most striking instance of the council's staking out a new position.
Traditional Catholic teaching rejected freedom of religion as a basic human right.
The argument: only Catholics have the truth and so they alone are entitled to freedom of belief and of practice. All other religions are in error and “error has no rights”; other religions have no right to freedom of belief and practice and Catholic states have the right to suppress them. While it may be prudent to tolerate the existence of other religions in order to avoid civil unrest, this is merely a favour extended to them, not a matter of right. This double standard became increasingly intolerable to many Catholics. Furthermore, Protestants would not believe in the sincerity of Catholics' involvement in ecumenism, if they continued to support this double standard. Pope John XXIII's last encyclical, Pacem in Terris (April 1963), listed freedom of religion among the basic human rights – the first papal document to support freedom of religion – and he wanted Vatican II to address the issue.
Dignitatis Humanae broke with the traditional position and asserted that every human being was entitled to religious freedom.
The argument: belief cannot be coerced. Since the Church wants people's religious belief to be genuine, people must be left free to see the truth of what is preached. The declaration also appealed to revelation: Jesus did not coerce people to accept his teaching, but invited them to believe, and so did his immediate followers.
Most Council Fathers supported this position, but 11% of them rejected it on the day of the final vote. If this position was true, they said, then the Church's previous teaching was wrong, and this was a conclusion they could not accept. The council's position on religious freedom raised in an acute way the issue of the development of doctrine: how can later teachings develop out of earlier ones? And how can one tell whether a new position is a legitimate development of previous teaching or is heresy?
The Means of Social Communication – The decree Inter Mirifica (Among the wonderful discoveries, 1963) addresses issues concerning the press, cinema, television, and other media of communication. Chapter 1 is concerned with the dangers presented by the media, and insists that media producers should ensure that the media offer moral content, that media consumers should avoid media whose content is not moral, and that parents should supervise their children's media consumption. Chapter 2 discusses the usefulness of the media for the Church's mission: Catholic press and cinema should be promoted, and suitable persons within the Church should be trained in the use of the media.
The text is generally considered to be one of the weakest of the Council deliberation. Rather than improve it, most Council Fathers preferred approving it as it is and moving on to more important matters. Some 25% of the Council Fathers voted against it to express their disappointment.
IMPACT OF VATICAN II
Vatican II was a record-breaking event.
Vatican II's features are so extraordinary, that they set the council apart from its predecessors almost as a different kind of entity.
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 in the likes of which had never been seen before”.
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.
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 of newspapers, radio and television. As a result, informations and reactions could be reported immediately, something beyond the realm of possibility at other ecumenical councils.
IMPORTANCE OF VATICAN II
Its impact on the Church was huge:
It was the most important religious event of the twentieth century"
The Second Vatican Council was the most significant event in the history of Catholicism since the Protestant Reformation”.
Vatican II was the single most important event for Catholicism in four centuries, since the Council of Trent.
The sixteen documents of the Second Vatican Council are the most important texts produced by the Catholic Church in the past four hundred years
In declaring the period from October 2012 to the end of November 2013 to be a "Year of Faith" to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the beginning of Vatican II, pope Benedict XVI wanted it to be a good opportunity to help people understand that the texts bequeathed by the Council Fathers, in the words of John Paul II, “have lost nothing of their value or brilliance”. They need to be read correctly, to be widely known and taken to heart as important and normative texts of the Magisterium, within the Church's Tradition. I feel more than ever in duty bound to point to the Council as the great grace bestowed on the Church in the twentieth century: there we find a sure compass by which to take our bearings in the 21st century.
Finally, it has been suggested that the pontificate of Francis will be looked upon as the decisive moment in the history of the church in which the full force of the Second Vatican Council's reformist vision was finally realized. The spirit of Vatican II" therefore, is meant to promote teachings and intentions attributed to the Second Vatican Council in ways not limited to literal readings of its documents, spoken of as the "letter" of the council. Cf. Saint Paul's phrase, "the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life". However, Cardinal Joseph Zen has pushed back, that "it is nonsense to talk about the spirit of the Council, if you ignore the Documents of the Council."
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