The Documents of the Vatican II was published in 2009 and contains all of the major documents from the second Vatican council. It is, thus, a useful summary of this momentous event. The Documents of the Vatican II is the work of no less than 3 Saints, 5 Popes, and 8 prominent reforming bishops. There is no way to accurately estimate how important the second Vatican council had on the 2 billion Catholics in the world. Do you believe there has been a more significant event than the second Vatican council?
The Documents of the Vatican II Major Reforms
The major reforms captured in The Documents of the Vatican II were a reformation of the liturgy, a call for all Catholics o be missionaries, emphasized to roll of the family and collaboration, and it updated the church (by allowing Mass to be said in native languages, and saying the priest should face the congregation). Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict the 16th, was an assistant in putting together The Documents of the Vatican II.
The council addressed relations between the Catholic Church and the world, too many to list here though there is a complete record in The Documents of the Vatican II. Many changes resulting from the council are the renewal of consecrated life with a revised charism, ecumenical efforts with other Christian denominations, interfaith dialogue with other religions, and the universal call to holiness, which, according to Pope Paul VI, was “the most characteristic and ultimate purpose of the teachings of the Council”.
As a side note, Pope John XXIII died of stomach cancer on 3 June 1963, and the council was suspended. Two weeks later, 82 cardinals met in Rome for the conclave, and on 21 June, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini of Milan was elected pope, taking the name Paul V. The second Vatican council resumed.
Luminaries at the Second Vatican Council
There were many luminaries present at the second Vatican Council, the production of which is summarized in The Documents of the Vatican. The luminaries include:
Prominent Conservative Bishops at the Council
Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani: Secretary of the Holy Office
Cardinal Michael Browne OP: professor at the Angelicum and consultor for the Holy Office.
Cardinal Giuseppe Siri: archbishop of Genoa, president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference.
Cardinal Ernesto Ruffini: archbishop of Palermo.
Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre CSSp: superior-general of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit; at the council, president of the Coetus Internationalis Patrum (“International Group of Fathers”), the bloc of conservative Council Fathers
Prominent Reformist Bishops at the Council
Cardinal Augustin Bea SJ: president of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity
Patriarch Maximos IV Sayegh: patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church
Cardinal Achille Liénart: bishop of Lille (France), the senior French bishop
Cardinal Josef Frings: archbishop of Cologne (Germany), the senior German bishop
Cardinal Bernardus Alfrink: archbishop of Utrecht (Netherlands), the senior Dutch bishop
Cardinal Leo Jozef Suenens: archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels (Belgium), the senior Belgian bishop
Cardinal Franz König, archbishop of Vienna (Austria), the senior Austrian bishop
Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro: archbishop of Bologna (Italy)
Cardinal Paul-Émile Léger: archbishop of Montreal (Canada)
Cardinal Julius Döpfner: archbishop of Munich and Freising (Germany)
Prominent reformist theologians at the Council
Marie-Dominique Chenu OP: private peritus
Henri de Lubac SJ: official peritus
Yves Congar OP: official peritus
Karl Rahner SJ: official peritus
John Courtney Murray SJ: official peritus
Bernhard Häring CSsR: official peritus
Edward Schillebeeckx OP: private peritus
Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI): official peritus
Hans Küng: official peritus
Canonized saints
John XXIII, the pope who called for the council and presided over it first (thus his feast day is the same date as the opening date of Vatican II)
Paul VI, second pope of the council
John Paul II, council father as Bishop Karol Józef Wojtyła
Beatified
John Paul I, council father as Albino Luciani
Álvaro del Portillo, council father
Enrique Angelelli, council father
Process ongoing
Fulton J. Sheen, council father
Terence Cooke, council father
Frank Duff, observer
Conclusion
The Documents of the Vatican II presents a neat and concise summary of the most important reforms in the Catholic Church since the council of Trent, which took place in the mud 1560s. The second Vatican council changes both the Mass and the ecumenical rules for billions of Catholics. This summary is very useful and should be of interest to everyone, especially Catholics.
