The Pilgrim of Church
The People of God and the Pilgrim Church:
Vatican II Images of the Church
Introduction
This paper will examine and explain the use of the People of God and the Pilgrim Church as images of the Church, according to the teaching of The Second Vatican Council. These images are foundational to Lumen Gentium.[i] We will discuss the roots of these images sprouting in the rich soil of Pope John XXIII’s revolutionary papacy and the resourcement approach of the Council Fathers; reveal the essence of the People of God as the Body of Christ and a people ‘groaning inwardly’ on pilgrimage; and illumine the inspiringly balanced, scriptural and Christ-centric view of the Church set forth by Vatican II.
Rich Soil of Renewal
The significance of the images of the People of God and the Pilgrim Church becomes clearer when one understands a little about the situation of the Church coming into Vatican II, which ostensibly seemed in good health.[ii] However, the Church was also living and moving amidst the swiftly changing and modernizing world. The most recent Ecumenical Councils, Trent (ended 1563) and Vatican I (1870) occurred in an era when the Church was responding to serious schism and attack. The latter council especially anathematized various aspects of modernism, but most notably declared the doctrine of Papal Infallibility as dogma.[iii] Against this background, the humble Pope John XXIII emerges as a revolutionary pope, who announced Vatican II, and whose simple, yet deep spirituality revealed a relentless optimism and desire for aggiornamento, or updating, of the Church … a spiritual renewal.[iv] Vatican II would thus be a pastoral council, assuming all Church doctrine and dogma as accepted but focusing on living the Church’s teaching and the People of God applying them in the life of the Church in the modern world.[v] It is amidst this renewal approach, inspired by John XXIII and carried on by Paul VI, that the
Vatican II Images of the Church
Introduction
This paper will examine and explain the use of the People of God and the Pilgrim Church as images of the Church, according to the teaching of The Second Vatican Council. These images are foundational to Lumen Gentium.[i] We will discuss the roots of these images sprouting in the rich soil of Pope John XXIII’s revolutionary papacy and the resourcement approach of the Council Fathers; reveal the essence of the People of God as the Body of Christ and a people ‘groaning inwardly’ on pilgrimage; and illumine the inspiringly balanced, scriptural and Christ-centric view of the Church set forth by Vatican II.
Rich Soil of Renewal
The significance of the images of the People of God and the Pilgrim Church becomes clearer when one understands a little about the situation of the Church coming into Vatican II, which ostensibly seemed in good health.[ii] However, the Church was also living and moving amidst the swiftly changing and modernizing world. The most recent Ecumenical Councils, Trent (ended 1563) and Vatican I (1870) occurred in an era when the Church was responding to serious schism and attack. The latter council especially anathematized various aspects of modernism, but most notably declared the doctrine of Papal Infallibility as dogma.[iii] Against this background, the humble Pope John XXIII emerges as a revolutionary pope, who announced Vatican II, and whose simple, yet deep spirituality revealed a relentless optimism and desire for aggiornamento, or updating, of the Church … a spiritual renewal.[iv] Vatican II would thus be a pastoral council, assuming all Church doctrine and dogma as accepted but focusing on living the Church’s teaching and the People of God applying them in the life of the Church in the modern world.[v] It is amidst this renewal approach, inspired by John XXIII and carried on by Paul VI, that the