The Second Vatican Council

By Eugenio Gall
 The Second Vatican Council


Called by Pope John XXIII on January 29, 1959,
opened in 1962, and closed by Pope Paul VI in 1965,
the Second Vatican Council, 21st ecumenical council
of the Roman Catholic Church, was widely recognized
as the most significant religious event in the 20 th
century.
 About Pope John XXIII

 Original name: Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (* 1881

in Sotto il Monte, Italy — † 1963, in Rome). He was
one of the most popular popes of all times (reigned
1958–63), who inaugurated a new era in the history
of the Roman Catholic Church by his openness to
change (aggiornamento), shown especially in his
convoking of the Second Vatican Council. He wrote
several socially important encyclicals, the most
notably ‘Pacem in Terris.’
 About Pope Paul VI

 original name: Giovanni Battista Montini (* 1897 in

Concesio, near Brescia, Italy— † 1978 in Castel
Gandolfo). He led the RCC 1963–78 during a period
including most of the second Vatican Council and
the immediate post-conciliar era, in which he issued
directives and guidance to a changing Roman
Catholic Church. His pontificate was confronted
with the problems and uncertainties of a church
facing a new role in the contemporary world.
The 20 previous councils. A brief
overview:

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 Objectives of the 21 council:
st

 Pope John XXIII hoped that this council (joined by

observers from other Christian churches) would
bring about a kind of new Pentecost. He wanted to
update and renew spiritually the Catholic Church,
heal divisions within Christendom, and alter the
Church’s reactionary attitude toward the world.
 Dialogues

 The ecumenical thrust of the Council, encouraged

by the presence of observers from nearly every
Christian denomination, led directly to the creation
of many bilateral dialogues between the RCC and
other Christian churches and communities.
 There was an openness