Second Vatican Council Analysis

Introduction:
The Second Vatican Council was the twenty-first ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council was held in St Peter's Basilica and created by Pope John XXIII on the 11th October 1962. Pope John created the council in the hopes of revitalising the Catholic Church and its role in the modern world. The creation of the council is regarded as one of the most if not the most influential events in the Catholic Church of the 20th century due to the historical context of the time, the unexpectedness of the council's creation and how it's paved the way to how the contemporary church is.
Convocation:
Vatican II's creation changed all of the certainties and the feelings of consoling sameness that had been felt by Catholics around
the world after WW2. Pope Pius XII, Pope John XXIII's predecessor, served his pontificate from the dates of the 2nd March 1939 to the 9th October 1958. Pope Pius had a long and controversial pontificate occurring during atrocities such as WW2, the holocaust and Stalin's regime. Pope John was voted in as a stop gap pope, temporary filling in the role of pope and keeping the church calm after the energy of Pope Pius XII. Along with this there was an increasing need for the church to adjust to the modern world to fill its role the cultural revolutions of the 1960's brought many issues to the forefront of the public including racial equality, gender equality and new ways of thinking about contraception, marriage and sexuality. Accordingly to the new direction of the Church, the council consisted of a variety of individuals including the pope, all of the bishops and superior generals of the Christian churches, observers that were delegates from non-catholic churches, chosen expert theologists to help in council deliberations and representative auditors of the laity and institutes of consecrated life. These people aimed to adapt and update the church to meet the needs of the modern world and the promotion of unity among Christians. Pope John XXIII stated that he called the council for two reasons to adapt and update the church to meet the needs of the modern world and to promote unity among Christians.
Deliberation:
Over the time that Vatican II took place (1962-1965) the assembled council made decisions, clarified and explained Christian teachings and published new Catholic texts.
Decisions were made through democratic processes such as voting in which 22,000 bishops around the world and the pope voted for or against a decision. In the council's existence they explained the Chrisitan teachings of the Dogmatic Constitution of the Liturgy on the 4th December 1963, the Teaching of the Dogmatic Constitution of the Church on the 21st November 1964, the Teaching of the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Relations on the 18th November 1965 and the Teaching of the Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World on the 7th December 1965. Additionally, the council published 16 official texts during its subsistence these were the Constitution of the Liturgy, the Dogmatic Constitution of the Divine Revelation, the Decree on the Media of Social Communication, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, the Decree on Eastern Catholic Churches, the Decree on Ecumenism. These 16 texts were comprised of around 100,000 Latin words and covered the themes of certain theological and liturgical movements that were taking place in the
church.
Evaluation:
The vision of Pope John and Vatican II was ambitious however, the changes made to the church were well received and have had a large impact on the church of today.
Changes made by the council made the post Vatican II churches far different to pre Vatican II churches. The council's changes included liturgical changes, an ecumenical movement, an increased role of lay people in the church and a general change to religious life of both lay and non-lay people. These liturgical changes constituted of a change of speaking Latin during the mass to the vernacular language of the area, far more extensive readings now inclusive of the Old Testament's teachings and a cycle of three years which focuses on each of the three synoptic gospels (i.e. Matthew, Mark and Luke). Ecumenically, Catholics were encouraged to be part of a movement of the unification of the Christian churches by the Catholic Church. This action by the Church illustrates just how the Catholic Church had changed. Less than a decade beforehand, the previous Pope, Pope Pius, had condemned a move towards ecumenism. Additionally, lay catholics were also given a larger role in the Church, they were now allowed to go to the altar, read scriptures and play a social role. As a result of these changes, the general view of the Church had changed. The Church now was seen primarily as a sign of Christ's presence in the world and less as an
institution
Conclusion: