• The Reception of the

Second Vatican Council

(1962-1965)

Background
The Second Vatican Council (1962‒65) is widely regarded as the most significant event for the
Catholic Church since the Reformation in the 16th century. Pope John XXIII called the Second
Vatican Council to update the Church and restore the unity of all Christians. Some in the Church
were fearful of possible changes, but the majority of Catholics welcomed the opportunity of
change; the opportunity to take down barriers and grapple with the challenges facing the world.
Hope and joy, not fear and alarm, characterised the discussions and outcomes of the Council.
Although the announcement of the Council was something of a surprise the teaching of the
Council was informed by the liturgical, biblical and ecumenical movements which date back to
the late 19th or early 20th centuries. There was also a rising theological movement within
Catholicism which drew upon scripture and the writings of the Church Fathers composed in
about the first 600 years of the Church’s life. This was a way of recovering the sources of the
Church’s Tradition without the accretion of subsequent teaching, sometimes distorted due to
historical circumstances no longer applicable.
As the Council proceeded it gained more confidence by, firstly, rejecting the initial texts drawn
up by the Vatican bureaucracy (Curia), which maintained the status quo, and then generating and
refining documents which breathed new life into the Church and brought a refreshing hope to
both Catholics and other Christians.
Often considered a pastoral Council, it was not condemnatory nor juridical but was positive and
conciliatory especially to other Christian traditions and other religions. In this aspect it was
groundbreaking and opened up possibilities for dialogue and future peace between Christian
traditions and world religions.
The Council also shifted thinking of the Catholic faith from a church-centred focus to one that is
Christ -centred within the context of the Trinity, thereby recovering a sense of the boundless
presence of the Holy Spirit.
• 1ST - 4TH SESSIONS

• Prayer to the Holy Spirit,

Used at Sessions of Vatican II:

We stand before you, Holy Spirit, conscious of our sinfulness, but aware that we gather in your name.
Come to us, remain with us, and enlighten our hearts.
Give us light and strength to know your will, to make it our own, and to live it in our lives.
Guide us by your wisdom, support us by your power, for you are God, sharing the glory of Father and
Son.
You desire justice for all: enable us to uphold the rights of others;
do not allow us to be misled by ignorance or corrupted by fear or favor.
Unite us to yourself in the bond of love and keep us faithful to all that is true.
As we gather in your name may we temper justice with love, so that all our discussions and reflections
may be pleasing to you, and earn the reward promised to good and faithful servants.
We ask this of You who live and reign with the Father and the Son, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

• THE SCHEMA of the discussion

The Second Vatican Council

1962 – 1965

1st – 4th sessions

Participants

RECEPTION

• INTRODUCTION

 A brief narrative of the events that took place on the year 1962-1965 (took place at the council)

 A brief overview of the sessions (1st, interim period, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th).

_____We will look at the reception of the participants and observers in each sessions.

• Preparing for the Council:

o Oct. 28, 1958 - Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Roncalli, Cardinal Archbishop of Venice,
elected as Pope, taking the name John XXIII.

o Jan. 25, 1959 - Pope John XXIII announces (announcement of the council) to a group of
17 Cardinals gathered at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls his intention of calling
an Ecumenical Council (along with a Synod of the Diocese of Rome and the Reform of
Canon Law).

o June 18, 1959 - a letter is sent to Bishops and Catholic universities world-wide asking for
suggestions for agenda items to be discussed at the council. June 30 – Cardinal Tardini,
under the instruction by Pope John, issues a letter to the worldwide Catholic episcopate
and Catholic universities inviting and suggestions for the agenda of the council.

• Preparing for the Council:

o June 5, 1960 - Pope John issues a motu proprio (Superno Dei nutu) announcing the
Formation of the Pre-Preparatory Commission, made up entirely of Roman officials and
placed under the leadership of the Vatican Secretary State, Cardnial Tardini. Outlining
the procedure for the preparation phase for the council.

o Dec. 25, 1961 - Pope John issues a papal bull (Apostolic Constitution), Humanae Salutis,
formally convoking the Second Vatican Council.

o February 2, 1962- Closing of the formal preparatory phase and marking October 11,
1962, as the opening of the council.
 • Preparing for the Council:

o July 20, 1962 - invitations are sent to separated Christians inviting them to send
observers to the council.

o Sept. 5, 1962 - Pope John issues a motu proprio (apostolic constitution “Appropinquante
concilio”) announcing the heads of ten council commissions, along with rules and
procedures for the conduct of the council.

o Sept. 11, 1962 - Pope John asks the whole world to pray for the council.

• Key Developments in Preparations for the Council (1959-1960)

• A total Surprise to the Roman Curia as well as the rest of the world.

• The struggle for the council began almost immediately.

• Secrecy during the preparatory proceedings had a negative impact on the preparations for the
council.

• Pope John XXIII ensured that three features of the council began to materialize:

(1) the council was to be ecumenical but was not to be dominated by the issue of Christian unity;

(2) the council was to privilege a pastoral (rather than a dogmatic or doctrinal) approach to topics;

(3) the council was to operate in freedom as a deliberative body (it was not to be dominated or
controlled by the Roman Curia or the pope).

• Key Developments in Preparations for the Council (1959-1960)

• The preparatory period had been marked by attempts to control the council’s agenda.

• The Doctrinal Commission, in particular, exercised a kind of hegemony over the other
commissions, and its head, Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani, the Prefect of the Holy Office, wielded
enormous power.

______to complete the agenda of Vatican I, that is, they wanted to offer an ecclesiology that would
complement Pastor aeternis (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ).

• When the agenda had been crafted and presented to the council fathers, there was alarm, and a
revolt began to unfold against the Doctrinal Commission and the Holy Office.

• Oct. 11, 1962 - Formal Opening of the Council; Opening Address by Pope John XXIII: Gaudet
Mater Ecclesia

• Dec. 8, 1962 - first session formally adjourns

• The First Session

• Pope John XXIII’s opening remarks set the tone for the council’s work in the first session.
• He issued a dramatic rebuttal of the “prophets of doom.”

• These were those who held on tenaciously to the rhetoric of apocalyptic confrontation with the
modern world. The pope’s agenda of “updating,” or aggiornamento, was under attack.

• The First Session

• October 13, 1962, two days after its ceremonial opening, plans were made to take an
immediate vote to establish the commissions that would work through the various documents
the council would produce.

• To establish the commissions that would work through the various documents the council
would produce. However, Cardinal Frings (Germany) and Cardinal Liénart (France), two
prominent members of the College of Cardinals, intervened in order to postpone the vote.

• The First Session

• As the council began, it became apparent that virtually none of the draft documents could serve
as adequate bases for preliminary discussion and debate.

• The only exception was the document on the liturgy. The reform of the liturgy had been under
way for a century, and all agreed that further reformation was needed.

• Although some council fathers had hoped that only one session would be needed, the events
that took place in the autumn of 1962 indicated that new draft documents were required, and
this work was undertaken that winter and in the spring of 1963

• Interim Period

• The death of John XVIII - June 3, 1963

• September 21, 1963 -Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini is elected Pope, taking the name Paul VI

• Paul VI entered his pontificate with the expressed intention to see the council through to its
conclusion, but his manner of dealing with the council would differ, in many ways, from that of
his predecessor.

• Paul VI undertook a reform of the council’s administration.

• Interim Period

• June 22, 1963 - Pope Paul VI declares his intention to continue the Second Vatican
Council

• Sept. 15, 1963 - Pope Paul announces the formation of a new steering committee to
direct the work of the second session

• Sept. 21, 1963 - Pope Paul addresses the Roman Curia, calling on their faithful
cooperation with the spirit of aggiornamento and reform.

• The Second Session

 • Sept. 29, 1963 - second session formally opens

• Dec. 4, 1963 - second session formally adjourns

• The Second Session

• The new draft document on the Church was the focal point of the council’s work.

• Dealt with other important issues.

• The approval and promulgation of the Sacrosanctum Concilium.

• Witnessed Greater progress in the council’s agenda

• The pace of the discussions was still slow…

• More revisions (the documents on the Church and working procedures)

• The Third Session

• Sept. 14, 1964 - third session formally opens

• Nov. 21, 1964 - third session formally adjourns

• The Third Session

• Open with overwhelming agenda.

• Last session?

• Many successes yet accompanied failures (for some).

• Difficulty of some questions.

• The Week November 14-21 – BLACK WEEK

___it witnessed three interventions that shaped the drama of the council in the minds of the
participants and observers.

• The Three Interventions

• The first intervention came from the Theological Commission at the behest of the pope.

• The second intervention came from the Council of Presidents, a group of cardinals whose role
had been sharply reduced at the council.

• The third intervention that defined the Black Week came from the pope himself. He had made
some twenty modifications to the document on ecumenism (the relationship between various
Christian churches) without allowing time for discussion of the document.

• The Third Session

• The council was a contentious meeting; there were battles, maneuverings, and procedural
stunts, which is not uncommon.
• Although the third session was marked by significant controversy, it also heralded several
important achievements, including the promulgation of the Lumen gentium and the Unitatis
redintegratio (Decree on Ecumenism).

• The Fourth Session

• Sept. 14, 1965 - fourth session opens, less formally

• Dec. 8, 1965 - the Second Vatican Council is officially closed with an open-air Mass in St. Peter's
Square and several "Messages of the Council" to various groups

• The Fourth Session

• The period before the fourth session saw the implementation of the initial reforms of the
liturgy.

• The interim period between the third and fourth sessions of the council also witnessed
significant developments in the Church’s relationship to the modern world.

• The question of religious freedom was simmering between the third and fourth sessions (Nov.
1964– Sept. 1965), and this issue became increasingly bound with the issues of religious
pluralism and the relationship between the Church and the modern world.

• The Fourth Session

• Many council fathers viewed the move to embrace religious freedom and a broad ecumenism as
a repudiation of Church teaching.

• The fourth session brought the council to a close on Dec. 8, 1965, and it also brought a sigh of
relief to its participants.

• The arduous work, the endless debates, the difficulties posed by bureaucracy, and the
inexperience of the council fathers in deliberative situations helped to make the council much
longer than anyone had anticipated.