BENEDICT XVI: VATICAN COUNCIL II IS BOTH “MEANINGFUL AND NECESSARY

BENEDICT XVI: VATICAN COUNCIL II IS BOTH “MEANINGFUL AND NECESSARY” by Jose Mario Bautista Maximano

60 years ago, John XXIII opened the first session of Vatican Council II (October 11, 1962)

BENEDICT XVI: “When I began to study theology in January 1946, no one thought of an Ecumenical Council. When Pope John XXIII announced it, to everyone’s surprise, there were many doubts as to whether it would be meaningful, indeed whether it would be possible at all…”

As the Church celebrated the 60-year anniversary of the Second Vatican Council this month, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said that Vatican II not only was "meaningful" but "necessary" (in a letter to an international symposium on "The Ecclesiology of Joseph Ratzinger" held at the US Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio)

As a priest and theologian, Father Ratzinger attended all four sessions of the council as a theological adviser — a “peritus” — to the archbishop of Cologne, Germany.

ST. JOHN XXIII: FIVE POINTS TO ACHIEVE PASTORAL RENEWAL OF THE CHURCH

Gaudet Mater Ecclesia is John XXIII's opening speech of the Second Vatican Council.

1. Be filled with hope and faith. Do not be prophets of gloom.

2. Discover ways of teaching the faith more effectively.

3. Deepen the understanding of doctrine.

4. Use the medicine of mercy (no “anathemas”).

5. Seek unity within the Church, with Christians separated from Catholicism, with those of non-Christian religions, and with all men and women of goodwill.

6. Began by John XXIII, Vatican II has put emphasis on the Church’s permanent “duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel” (Gaudium et Spes, 4).

FIRST SESSION OF THE COUNCIL: 1962

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

Dec. 8, 1962 - first session formally adjourns
Interim Period:

JUNE 3, 1963 - POPE JOHN XXIII DIES

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

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.

SECOND SESSION OF THE COUNCIL: FALL 1963

Sept. 29, 1963 - the second session formally opens
Dec. 4, 1963 - second session formally adjourns

THIRD SESSION OF THE COUNCIL: FALL 1964

Sept. 14, 1964 - the third session formally opens
Nov. 21, 1964 - third session formally adjourns

FOURTH SESSION OF THE COUNCIL: FALL 1965

Sept. 14, 1965 - the 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.

Indeed, it can be said that St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis learned from St. John XXIII that Vatican Council II was meant to be the opportunity to move the Heavens to renew the face of the Earth, a once-in-a-blue-moon opportunity to undergo the most radical institutional transformation quite similar to what happened during the 16th-century Council of Trent. 

Works Cited

Maximiano, J. M. (2022, October 23). BENEDICT XVI: VATICAN COUNCIL II IS BOTH “MEANINGFUL AND NECESSARY. Retrieved from Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=5876891062361786&set=a.595423107175301