From John XXIII. strongly desired and by Paul VI. completed, the Second Vatican Council began its work on October 11, 1962, an event whose impetus was not exhausted, as has been repeatedly affirmed by the Magisterium of all subsequent pontificates. The direction of the journey in the words of Pope Rocalli: descending “to the present” with the “medicine of mercy instead of severity”.
Amedeo Lomonaco Vatican News
Sixty years have passed since the opening of Vatican II, an event that changed the face of the Church. An ecumenical, that is, universal council is the Pope’s call to bring the college of bishops together to face the new questions of history together in the light of the Gospel.
The announcement
Pope John XXIII was the one who announced the 21st Council of the Church of Rome on January 25, 1959 in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls: “Venerable brothers and beloved children! modest purpose, name and proposal of the double celebration: a diocesan synod for the city and an ecumenical council for the universal church”. Three years later, on February 2, 1962, on the feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, Pope John gave the beginning of this great assembly known: “This date is October 11, 1962; and it is a commemoration of the Council of Ephesus, and precisely the departure of the Church of St. Peter in Vincoli of Father Philip huius tituli presbyter to Ephesus as representative of Pope Celestine. The Church opens the sources of her teaching to promote the concord, peace and unity to which she appeals to Christ.
Opening of the Second Vatican Council
The opening
Hence the Second Vatican Council was opened on October 11, 1962. On that day, more than 3,000 participants, including cardinals, archbishops, bishops, superiors of religious families, paraded in St. Peter’s Square. They came from all over the world and represented all people on earth. The Vatican Basilica was converted into a council hall. In this large room with moments of great intensity, the words of Pope John XXIII echoed. at the opening ceremony: “The very serious situations and problems facing humanity are not changing; In fact the Pope said in his speech in Latin “Christ continues to shine at the center of history and life”. “Each time they are celebrated, the ecumenical councils proclaim this solemn agreement with Christ and his Church and lead to the universal radiance of truth, in the right direction.” “But now Pope John XXIII emphasizes. the bride of Christ prefers to use the remedy of mercy rather than that of severity. She believes she better serves today’s needs by demonstrating the validity of her doctrine rather than renewing beliefs.” The Church is the loving mother of all. The Council, with appropriate updates, takes a leap forward in the apostolic commitment to bring the message of the gospel to all people.
the speech of the moon
Another moment included in the history of that day of the opening of Vatican II was the greeting that John XXIII. addressed to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square that same night. Spontaneously spoken words that went down in history as “the speech of the moon”. The crowd amid the lights of more than 100,000 torches was a scene that moved the Pope, who decided to look out the window. He told his closest associates that he would only give a blessing. But then, at this extraordinary moment in the life of the Church, he made an impromptu speech that touched everyone’s heart. “Dear children, I hear your voices. Mine is just a voice, but it thickens the voice of the whole world; the whole world is represented here. It seems that even the moon this night look up! “Consider this spectacle”. “This morning,” declared Pope John, “was a spectacle which not even St. Peter’s Basilica, which has four hundred years of history, could ever contemplate.” At home you will find your children; caress your children and say: “This is the Pope’s caress”. You will find a few tears to wipe away. Do something, say a kind word. ‘The Pope is with us, especially in times of sadness and Bitterness'”.
Pope John XXIII at the opening speech
The Council Documents
The work of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council was divided into four sessions. Four Constitutions, nine Decrees and three Declarations emerged from this fundamental chapter in the history of the Church. The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church is the most solemn document of the entire Council. It begins with the words “Lumen gentium” (Light of the peoples): “Because the Church in Christ is, as it were, a sacrament or sign and instrument of the intimate union with God and of the unity of the whole human race, it is intended, after the previous Councils, for the faithful and to reveal more emphatically to the whole world its essence and its universal mission. The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, which begins with the words “Dei Verbum”, touches on the very foundations of the Church’s faith: the Word of God, its revelation and its Transmission The Constitution Sacrosantum Concilium sets out the general principles for the reform and advancement of the liturgy. The Constitution on the Church in the World Today consists of a first part on man’s vocation and a second part on some more pressing problems.
Opening of the Second Vatican Council
The Popes and the Council
“An event of grace for the Church and for the world”. Pope Francis wrote in the preface to the book entitled John XXIII. Vatican II a council for the world”. “We took a lot with us from the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. For example, we have deepened the meaning of the people of God, a central category in the conciliar texts, recalled up to 184 times, which helps us to understand the fact that the Church is not an elite of priests and consecrated persons and that every baptized person is an active subject of evangelization”. For Benedict XVI, the Second Vatican Council was a “new Pentecost”. We hoped that everything would be renewed”, he told the priests of Rome on February 14, 2013, “that really a new Pentecost would come, a new era in the Church (…) one felt that the Church was not moving forward, the reduced, which seemed to be a reality of the past and not a bearer of the future”. And in that moment we hoped that this relationship would be renewed, that it would change; that the Church would again be a force for tomorrow and a force for today”. Saint John Paul II, in his Apostolic Exhortation Novo Millennio Ineunte, calls the Council “the great grace from which the Church has benefited in the 20th century: It offers us a sure compass to guide us on the path of the century now beginning”.
At the end of the Council on December 8, 1965, Saint Paul VI emphasized in his “general greeting” that “no one is alien to the Catholic Church”: “Behold this is our greeting”: may he break into our hearts this new spark of divine love; a spark that can ignite the principles, doctrines and proposals that the Council has worked out, and which, so ignited by love, really brings about in the Church and in the world that renewal of thought, action, customs, moral strength who can bring forth joy and hope. what the real purpose of the council was”.