Vatican Ii
The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, more commonly known as Vatican II, is the twenty-firstecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. It was opened by Pope John XXIII in 1962 and closed under the pontificate of Paul VI in 1965.
It is generally considered the most significant event in the history of the Catholic Church in the twentieth century , symbolizing openness to the modern world and contemporary culture made considerable technological progress, emancipation of peoples and secularization growing. Answers to modern questions were sought in a return to the roots of Christianity : the Bible (based on new biblical research) and the great Tradition ,
The unexpected progress of the council reflects the significant differences between the first and second sessions of the council. A pre-established by the curia cardinals (with texts almost ready to be voted) was rejected. The Council Fathers then took their agenda in hand. The cardinal Lon-Joseph Suenens , Giacomo Lercaro and Julius Dpfner , three of the four moderators seem to have been the source of this "revolt". The proposed change in procedure was immediately accepted by Pope John XXIII. Everything was so very different and freer debate.
We have discussed such celebrations liturgical , the report was necessary to maintain the Catholic Church with other Christian churches, with other religions, and society in general, but also problems specifically theological , such as religious freedom and the Revelation.
Summary |
Background
In the 1950s , the Catholic theological and biblical work had begun to depart from the neo-scholasticism and biblical literalism ( French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem , especially under the influence of Father Lagrange , a Dominican), the reaction to modernism was reinforced in the Roman Church after the First Vatican Council. The revival was figureheads theologians like Yves Congar , Karl Rahner and John Courtney Murray , who wanted to better integrate human experience within the contemporary Christian dogma. Mention may also be Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope in 2005 under the name Benedict XVI ), Henri de Lubac and Jean Danielou , who through the movement patristic , seeking a source of renewal in a comprehensive study of the texts of the Church Fathers the first centuries of Christianity. Other movements have also contributed to the emergence of the new council : the motion liturgical , in association with the monasteries Benedictine , and the Marian movement.
At the same time, the bishops of the world over had to face the considerable challenges posed by their political, social, economic and technical. Some of them saw the evolution of structure and functioning of the Church a way to meet these challenges. A group of Dutch and German bishops brought together the most organized of them under the name of Bishops of the Rhine. It should also be noted that the holding of this council could be seen as more desirable than almost a century earlier, the First Vatican Council had been interrupted by the start of the Franco-Prussian War , and only debate on the role of the papacy had been completed, while the number of pastoral and dogmatic issues concerning the whole church had been left pending.
The beginning of the process the council is 25 January 1959. Less than three months after his election in 1959 , at the end of the week of Christian Unity, Pope John XXIII announced his intention to convene the Council , to promote the development of authentic Catholic moral renewal to ensure Life Christian Church and to adapt to the needs of our time.
During the three years that followed, he explains what was his intention in many messages, especially about the form that was taken by the council, then it is said that he wondered what would serve the Council, he opened a window and said, "I want to open wide the doors of the church, so we can see what is happening outside, and that the world can see what is happening inside the Church." He invited other Christian Churches to send observers to the Council. Number of Churches Protestant and Orthodox agreed. The Russian Orthodox Church , fearing reprisals from the Soviet power, only agreed to go only when he was confirmed in an informal meeting in Paris that the Council would not address questions of policy.
Texts and Documents
The documents are listed here in chronological order of their approval by the fathers of the Council. While all officials, they are not necessarily equally important theological and canonical life of the Church. The title given to them (Constitution, Declaration and Order) gives some idea of their importance. The Council has approved four constitutions, nine decrees and three declarations.
Second Session (1963)
- December 4, 1963. The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy ( Sacrosanctum Concilium ) is approved in final reading by 2 147 votes against 2.
- December 4, 1963. The Decree on the Means of Social Communication ( Inter Mirifica ) is approved in final reading by 1 960 votes against 164.
Third Session (1964)
- November 21, 1964. The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church ( Lumen Gentium ) is approved in final reading by 2 151 votes against 5.
- November 21, 1964. Decree on Eastern Catholic Churches ( Orientalium Ecclesiarum ) is approved in final reading by 2 110 votes against 39.
- November 21, 1964. Decree on Ecumenism ( Unitatis Redintegratio ) is approved in final reading by 2 137 votes against 11.
Fourth Session (1965)
- October 28, 1965. Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church ( Christus Dominus ) is approved in final reading by 2 319 votes against 2 and 1 invalid vote.
- October 28, 1965. Decree on the renovation and adaptation of religious life ( Perfectae Caritatis ) is approved in final reading by 2 325 votes against 4.
- October 28, 1965. Decree on Priestly Formation ( Optatam totius ) is approved in final reading by 2 318 votes against 3.
- October 28, 1965. The Declaration on Christian Education ( Gravissimum educationis ) is approved in final reading by 2 325 votes against 35.
- October 28, 1965. The Declaration on the Church's relations with non-Christian religions ( Nostra Aetate ) is approved in final reading by 2 221 votes against 88 and 1 invalid vote.
- November 18, 1965. The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation ( Dei Verbum ) is approved in final reading by 2 344 votes against 6.
- November 18, 1965. Decree on the apostolate of the laity ( Apostolicam Actuositatem ) is approved in final reading by 2 340 votes against 2.
- December 7, 1965. The Declaration on Religious Liberty ( Dignitatis Humanae ) is approved in final reading by 2 308 votes against 70.
- December 7, 1965. The Decree on the Church's missionary activity ( Ad Gentes ) is approved in final reading by 2 394 votes against 5.
- December 7, 1965. Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests ( Presbyterorum ordinis ) is approved in final reading by 2 390 votes against 4.
- December 7, 1965. The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World ( Gaudium et Spes ) is approved in final reading by 2 309 votes against 75 and 7 invalid ballots.
signature and promulgation
Each paper concludes with the text "All together, each of the points that have been enacted in the Constitution (Decree, Statement) have pleased the fathers of the Council. And We, by apostolic power of Christ that we hold in common with the venerable Fathers, We agree, stop and decree in the Holy Spirit, and We order that what has been well established in Council be promulgated for glory of God. " Signed: I, Paul , bishop of the Catholic Church.
Then follow the signatures of the Council Fathers.
Sessions: chronological approach
The preparation of the Council, which lasted more than two years, involving ten specialized committees and secretariats for relations with the media , for Christian Unity, and a central committee to coordinate the efforts of different agencies. These committees, composed mostly of members of the Roman Curia , produced 987 proposed constitutions and decrees (known as schemata) intended as a working basis for the Council Fathers. Once the Council open to these groups would be succeeded by other committees, formed on the same basis, responsible for sorting and reviewing various proposals to take the substance , and then present them to Council for their approval and possibly amended. In fact, schemata were excluded from the first session of the Council, and others were created. Some, like Yves Congar , have criticized the lack of organization and real dialogue in this first phase of the council: indeed, the geographical remoteness of consultors of these commissions, the omnipresence of the Roman Curia , an institution primarily Italian and Roman , could affect the expression of different points of view and quality of these preparatory exchanges.
Plenary sessions of the Council took place from 1962 to 1965 , in four successive sessions. During periods when there was no plenary session, committees reviewing and compiled the work of bishops and prepared the following session. The sessions were held in St. Peter's Basilica , in Latin , and it was kept secret about the debates and opinions that were expressed. Interventions were limited to ten minutes. In fact, much of the work of the Council took the form of committee meetings (which could take place in the vernacular ), as well as more informal meetings and conversations between bishops outside the Council itself.
2908 Council Fathers were called: all bishops , and many senior of religious orders for men. 2 540 of them took part in the opening session, making it the largest gathering in the history of the councils of the Catholic Church. Participation variable, depending on the sessions, 2 100 to 2 300 Fathers present. It must be added a large number of experts (called periti in Latin), available to the Council Fathers consult them - indeed, they played an increasing role as and when the advance of the Council. The observers from the Orthodox Churches and Protestant were 17 in number.
First session (Fall 1962)
John XXIII opened the Council declared 11 October 1962 , at a public meeting involving the Council Fathers, representatives of 86 governments and international organizations. After Mass, the pope read a speech to the assembled bishops, entitled Gaudet Mater Ecclesia (French "Our Mother Church rejoices ..."). During that speech he rejected the ideas of the "prophets of doom, which merely advertise disaster" for the future of the world and the Church. The pope insisted on the "character especially pastoral" - rather than doctrine - the teaching of the Council: the Church did not need to repeat or reformulate existing doctrines or dogmas, but rather to try to teach the message of Christ in light of the constantly changing modern world. He exhorted the Council Fathers to "use the remedies of mercy rather than weapons of severity" in the documents they would have to happen: this exhortation was part of a truth movement, marked by an attitude of mercy and not a polemic stance, trying to smear or condemn errors Second Session (Autumn 1963 ) In the months before the holding of the first plenary session, Paul VI tried to correct some problems of organization and procedure which had appeared during the opening session. He invited other observers including lay Catholics and non-Catholics, reduced the number of schemata proposed seventeen (the schemata assumed a more general turn, according to the nature of the pastoral council ) before removing the requirement of secrecy that prevailed during the plenary sessions. In his speech opening the second session, on 29 September 1963 , the pope stressed the pastoral nature of the council, and he had four main objectives: During this session, the Council Fathers approved of the constitution on the liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium and the Decree on means of mass communication Inter Mirifica. Advanced work on schemata covering the Church, bishops and dioceses , and the ecumenism. On 8 November 1963 , Cardinal Joseph Frings criticized the institution of the Holy Office (which was before 1908 the name of Holy Inquisition Roman and Universal), which evoked a passionate response from his secretary, Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani. This exchange is often considered one of the most intense of the Council. The theological advisor of Cardinal Frings was the young Joseph Ratzinger, now known as Pope Benedict XVI , who was also prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1981 to 2005. The second session was completed on December 4. Between the second and third sessions, the proposed schemata were again revised, taking into account the remarks made by the Council Fathers. On a number of issues, draft constitutions or decrees were reduced to a few fundamental propositions to be approved during the third session, but that post-conciliar commissions would develop thereafter. Fifteen women, eight sisters and seven laymen, and other lay Catholics were added to the number of observers. During this session, which began September 14 in 1964 , the Council Fathers did advance a large number of proposals. The schemata about the ecumenism (Unitatis Redintegratio), the Eastern Churches (Orientalium Ecclesiarum) and the Church (Lumen Gentium) were approved by the assembly of bishops and promulgated by the Pope. Many bishops proposed a scheme about the wedding , which included a reform of canon law that many legal issues, ceremonial and pastoral, expressing the wish to be quickly approved by a vote, but the pope did not submitted not the votes of the Council Fathers. Paul VI also asked bishops to delegate the issue of artificial contraception to a committee of religious experts and laymen that he had formed. The schemata about the life and ministry of priests , the missionary activity of the Church , were referred to the commissions to be substantially modified. Work continued on the remaining schemata, particularly those on the place of the Church in the world and the modern religious freedom. A controversy took place regarding amendments to the decree on religious freedom and the vote could take place during the third session, but Paul VI promised that this decree would be the first to be discussed at the next session. He closed the third session on 21 November 1964 , announcing a change in the fasting and eucharistic formally declaring Maria Mater Ecclesiae / "Mother of the Church," according to the traditional Catholic. Eleven schemata remained unfinished at the end of the third session, and commissions worked to give them a final form in the period that separated the two sessions. In particular, the schema 13, which dealt with the establishment of the Church in the Modern World, was reviewed by a commission that included laypeople. Paul VI opened the fourth and final session of the Council on 14 September 1965 and instituted the Synod of Bishops. This structure, designed to gather at regular intervals, was intended to prolong cooperation between bishops and the Pope after the Council. The first issue discussed at the fourth session was the decree on religious freedom, perhaps the most controversial of the conciliar documents. The first draft was passed by 1997 votes against 224. The organization of the Catholic Church, which does not operate by simple majority, gives the number of opponents very important. After further revisions, it was voted by a majority of 2308 and only 70 votes for cons. The main task that occupied the Fathers for the remainder of the session was working on three documents, all who obtained an approval for a large majority. The Pastoral Constitution on the Church's place in the modern world, Gaudium et Spes, extended and revised, was followed by two decrees on missionary activity (Ad Gentes) and on the life and ministry of priests (Presbyterorum Ordinis ). The council also approved other documents discussed at previous sessions, especially the Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops (Christus Dominus), the lives of members of religious orders (Perfectae Caritatis, a document that was significantly revised and extended) the training of priests (Optatam Totius), Christian education (Gravissimum Educationis), and the role of the laity ( Apostolicam Actuositatem ). The declaration Nostra Aetate was discussed at length. She claimed, moreover in line with the Council of Trent , that neither the Jews nor the time of Christ the Jews of today could be considered more responsible for the death of Jesus that Christians themselves. It is written in Nostra Aetate, 4: "True, the Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ (13), which was in His passion can not be attributed either indiscriminately to all Jews then alive, nor against the Jews of our time. While the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not, however, be presented as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from Holy Scripture. All should take care, in catechesis and preaching the word of God, they teach anything that does not conform to the truth of the Gospel and the spirit of Christ. The highlight of the last days of the council was the visit to Rome's Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople Athenagoras I. Paul VI and Patriarch in a joint statement expressed their regret for the actions that led to the Great Schism between the Eastern Churches and Western and solemnly raised the excommunication and anathema that their predecessors had launched at him. The final closing of the Council took place on 8 December 1965 , and bishops vowed to comply with the orders that had been taken. To increase the scope of the Council, Paul VI took several important measures, including: The outcome document of Vatican II had the greatest range is undoubtedly the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium. In his first chapter, entitled "The Mystery of the Church" is the famous phrase "This is the only Church of Christ in the Creed is professed as one, holy, catholic and apostolic, which our Saviour, after his resurrection gave to Peter the shepherd. The Liturgy The revision of the liturgy was one of the first problems addressed by the Council, and in any case was one that had the most immediate effect in the daily lives of Catholics. According to the Constitution on the Liturgy , the main idea was the following: "The Church sincerely hope that all the faithful can be led to that fully conscious and active participation in liturgical celebrations, the nature of the liturgy itself demands. Such participation is for Christians, chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation saved by Christ, a right and a duty by virtue of their baptism. " Vatican II went further by encouraging "active participation" that the pope had earlier authorized or recommended. The council fathers established the outlines of a future revision of the liturgy, which was to include a limited use of vernacular languages instead of Latin. According to the bishops , local or national customs could be carefully incorporated in the liturgy. The implementation of the directives of the Council on the liturgy was undertaken under the authority of Paul VI , by a special papal commission, later included in the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. The national bishops' conferences also played a large role, particularly to provide a common translation of liturgical texts for the countries in their care. The Council undertook to revive the centrality of Scripture in religious life and specifically the Church's theological, based on the work of the early popes, and worked in a modern approach to Scriptural analysis and interpretation. A new approach to interpretation was approved by the Council Fathers, the Church would continue to provide faithful translations of the Bible in the vernacular , and religious and lay people continue the study of the Bible as a central part of their lives. The importance of Holy Scripture, as was evidenced by Leo XIII in Providentissimus Deus and in the writings of saints , doctors and popes throughout the history of the Church, was confirmed. The Council also approved the interpretation of Scripture in light of the history presented in the encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu of Pius XII in 1943. Le rle des vques dans l' glise fut remis en honneur, tout spcialement lorsqu'ils taient considrs collectivement, en tant que collge des successeurs des aptres , chargs d'enseigner et de gouverner l' glise. Ce collge n'existe pas sans sa tte, le successeur de saint Pierre. Aprs les revendications de certains Pres conciliaires, le Concile distingua deux ttes pour l'glise terrestre, le Collge des vques et le pape , dans une note prliminaire la constitution dogmatique . Cette note tablit que le Collge ne saurait exister sans sa tte L'cumnisme Voir aussi cumnisme et a href = "Liste_des_observateurs_non-catholiques_au_Concile_Vatican_II" class = "mw-redirect" title = "List of non-Catholic observers at Vatican II"> List non-Catholic observers at the Council Vatican II The end of the council was marked by the lifting of excommunication by the pope and mutual the Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople. More generally, the council has created a profound revival of trade between Catholic Church and Eastern Churches, but also with Protestant churches. Finally, two measures that directly entered into force after the Council concerning ecumenism: In the aftermath of the Council, two diametrically opposed currents of opposition are taking place. While the traditionalist is marked by the refusal of the conclusions of the Council, said the current reformist or liberal, believes that its implementation remained insufficient. Some priests and bishops reject the conclusions of the council. According to them, they object to teaching bi-millennium of the Church's Tradition. Specifically, they consider the council's statements contradict the syllabus in several key points as well as the denunciation of Modernism by Pope Pius X. The refusal will have the greatest impact is from MonsignorMarcel Lefebvre , former Archbishop of Dakar. So he agreed to sign statements of the Council, he publicly rejected in 1974. He then struck a suspense divinis. The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X , which he founded in 1970, was declared dissolved in 1976, it nevertheless continues its existence and opposes reforms. It uses the Tridentine Mass (or church of St. Pius V) as a banner of his challenge to the Council. Pope Paul VI said: Apparently this dispute involves a subtlety. But this so-called Mass of St. Pius V, as seen in Ecne, becomes the symbol of the conviction of the Council. However, under no circumstances will I accept that they condemn the council by a symbol. If this exception is accepted, the Council will be shaken. And consequently the apostolic authority of the Council , which causes the excommunication automatic four bishops and their leader. Towards the end of the pontificate of John Paul II, further attempts at reconciliation with the followers of Archbishop Lefebvre took place. More recently, in July 2007, Pope Benedict XVI , in his motu proprio Summorum Pontificum relaxes the conditions of celebrating Mass in the Tridentine rite. On January 21, 2009, Benedict XVI lifted the excommunication, which struck the four bishops ordained by Archbishop Lefebvre. The stated goal of this opening movement is Lefebvrists to change their attitude of rejection of the decisions of Vatican II. The disappointments of "progressive" The professor of canon law at the University of Fribourg Bckenfrde Werner said in a lecture the 3 and 4 October 1998 in Wrzburg, at the fifth meeting of the Federal People's Movement of the Church "Wir sind Kirche ("We are the Church") ( Germany ) that after a little over forty years, nothing had been implemented with the exception of the Mass in the vernacular: "Eighteen years after the end of the Council, the current Pope has defined legal applications. Despite all the significant changes Codex Juris Canonici clearly shows that no decisive legal consequences should be drawn from the Council. The legislator of the Church - and this is according to the constitution of the Church ultimately the pope alone - proved not only decided to thwart any challenge to the hierarchical structure of the Church but also to strengthen further. " Pope Benedict XVI in a speech in December 2005 addresses the issue of fair interpretation of the Council, in opposing the council's vision of a break with tradition, conveyed both by the traditionalists as reformers. "On one hand, there is an interpretation that I would call" hermeneutics of discontinuity and rupture "; it has often enjoyed the sympathy of the mass media, and also a part of modern theology. On the other hand, there is the "hermeneutic of reform", of renewal in the continuity of the one subject-Church which the Lord has given us is something that grows over time and develops , yet always remaining the same, the one about the People of God on. " Benedict XVI said that for the proponents of the first interpretation, the texts of the Council as such do not yet express the true spirit of the Council, but they were the result of compromises that need to be exceeded. Pope rejects this position, door open to "every whim" and opposes the teaching of his predecessors, citing Pope John XXIII for which the council "wants to transmit the doctrine, pure and integral, without any attenuation or distortion". In response, four historians and theologians hold in December 2007 the thesis of discontinuity. They try to show that the parallel criticism of the pope has no target, and that his speech is consistent with their vision. This attempt is studied by journalist Sandro Magister , which is inconclusive, "Benedict XVI has just written all this black on white. He described and criticized the "spirit" of the school of Bologna. Paradoxically, "nella storia Cristianesimo" to meet him, focuses on the "letter". " Third Session (Fall 1964)
Fourth Session (Autumn 1965)
In addition, the Church reproves every persecution against any man, whoever they may be, mindful of the patrimony she shares with the Jews and moved not by political reasons but by the Gospel's spiritual love, decries hatred, persecutions and all manifestations of antisemitism, which, whatever their era and their authors were directed against Jews. " Issues Addressed
The Church
Holy Scripture and Revelation
Bishops
Reactions
Traditionalism
Position of the Church hierarchy
Notes
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