Second Vatican Council

Background

A council is an assembly of the bishops of the whole Church that makes decisions on doctrine and church order. Counting from the Council of Nicaea, the Catholic Church reckons the Second Vatican Council as the twenty-first ecumenical council.

In response to the sixteenth-century Reformation, the Catholic Church convened the Council of Trent (1545–1563) to set its doctrine in order. The First Vatican Council (1869–1870) defined papal infallibility as dogma. Papal infallibility is the doctrine that the pope's teaching is free from error when he formally pronounces on matters of faith and morals. For a long time afterward, the Catholic Church maintained a posture of distance from modern thought. Society changed profoundly, however, through the two world wars, and the ecumenical movement emerged, exemplified by the founding of the World Council of Churches in 1948. Amid these developments, Pope John XXIII announced on January 25, 1959, that he would convene a council. He set forth aggiornamento (Italian for "bringing up to date") as its goal.

Proceedings

• October 11, 1962: The council opened and held its first session. More than 2,000 bishops attended. Protestant and Orthodox churches sent observers without voting rights.
• 1963: John XXIII died in June. His successor, Paul VI, continued the council.
• 1963–1965: Sessions were held each autumn, making four sessions in all.
• December 7, 1965: Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople lifted the mutual excommunications of 1054. For the excommunications of 1054, see East–West Schism.
• December 8, 1965: The council closed.

The council issued sixteen documents: four constitutions, nine decrees, and three declarations. The principal documents include:

• Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium): reform of worship
• Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium): ecclesiology
• Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum): Scripture and revelation
• Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes): the Church in the modern world
• Decree on Ecumenism (Unitatis Redintegratio): relations with other churches
• Declaration on Religious Freedom (Dignitatis Humanae)
• Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions (Nostra Aetate): relations with other religions

Outcomes and Influence

• Liturgy: The Mass, previously celebrated only in Latin, could now be celebrated in the vernacular language of each country. The Catholic Church in Korea likewise began celebrating Mass in Korean after the council. The practice of the priest celebrating Mass facing the congregation also spread widely during the reforms that followed the council.
• Scripture and the laity: The council encouraged the faithful to read the Bible. It described the Church as "the People of God" and emphasized the role of the laity.
• Ecumenism: The Decree on Ecumenism referred to Protestants as "separated brethren." The Catholic Church subsequently pursued formal dialogue with various Protestant bodies. In 1999 it issued the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification together with the Lutheran World Federation. In Korean, Catholics use the term uihwa for what Protestants call justification.
• Korea: In the ecumenical climate that followed the council, Catholic and Protestant scholars translated the Bible together. This translation was published in 1977 as the Common Translation Bible. The Catholic Church later published its own translation, the Seonggyeong (2005).

Assessment

Within the Catholic Church, the prevailing view regards the council as the starting point of ecclesial renewal. By contrast, traditionalists such as Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and the Society of Saint Pius X, which he founded, opposed the liturgical reform, the Declaration on Religious Freedom, and other measures. Lefebvre was excommunicated in 1988 for consecrating bishops without the approval of the Holy See. Debate continues over whether the council's documents should be interpreted in continuity with prior tradition or as a rupture from it.

Protestant assessments are divided. The ecumenical camp, including the member denominations of the National Council of Churches in Korea, regards the council as a turning point that opened dialogue between Catholics and Protestants.

Some in conservative Presbyterian and evangelical circles take a different view. Pointing out that the decrees of the Council of Trent were not rescinded and that papal infallibility, the doctrines concerning Mary, and the understanding of the Mass as a sacrifice all remained in place, they conclude that the fundamentals of Catholic doctrine did not change. They also criticize the passages in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church and the Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions that leave open the possibility of salvation for those outside Christianity, viewing them as leaning toward religious pluralism. The Catholic side explains that these passages do not abandon the principle of salvation through Christ.