Angelo Cardinal Roncalli, the then patriarch of Venice, was elected pope on 28 October 1958, taking the name John XXIII. At the time, he was a month shy of turning 77, and many in the Roman Curia considered him a transitional pope. However, hardly three months into his papacy, on 25 January 1959, he surprised everyone by announcing his intention to hold an ecumenical council, and it took another three years to convene it.
The Second Vatican Council opened on 11 October 1962. The council completed its work in 1965. On the 60th anniversary of its opening, Pope Francis will celebrate Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on October 11, which is also the feast day of Saint John XXIII, who died on 3 June 1963, a year after the council opened. Pope St. John Paul II beatified John XXIII in 2000, and Pope Francis canonised him in 2014.
Bishop Robert Barron explained the papacy of John XXIII, and the achievement of Vatican II by using the image of Noah’s Ark. The deluge was unexpected and Noah was mocked for building the Ark. But, when the Ark touched land for the first time after months on the water, life went forth, was fruitful, and filled the world as God intended.
The enormity of the task undertaken by Vatican II was well articulated by Father John O’Malley, the Jesuit historian who authored the book, What Happened at Vatican II? The Second Vatican Council, he said, “was the largest meeting in the history of the world. Some 2,600 people—bishops, theologians, observers and advisors—gathered for months-long sessions between 1962 and 1965.”
However, the journey of the council—before, during or after—has not been easy. Fierce opposition came from within the Roman Curia. The council’s decision on liturgical reforms, allowing translation of the Mass text from Latin into the language of the people and breaking down the walls of separation between Catholic and other Christian Churches were severely opposed.
“The new Pentecost” has opened and continues to open the doors and windows of the Church, despite not everyone being convinced, and many feel tempted to shut themselves off from the council’s teachings. The attempts to delay the implementation of the decisions continued even after Vatican II. But, disagreements and arguments are nothing new in the Church; they have been present since the time of the Apostles. It was never the qualifications of the Apostles that made the mission possible. Even when varied inside or outside forces, including persecutions, attempted to blow off the unity, fruitfulness, and fervour of the Church, the mighty wind of the Holy Spirit that inspired the Vatican II, keeps the Mission on the move.
Six decades later, looking back at the council’s teachings, one must admit that many of us are still ignorant about the post-concilliar documents. It would be appropriate in this time of the anniversary of the Vatican II to promote in our parishes and communities the shared reading and studying of the four major texts of the Second Vatican Council: Lumen Gentium—the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church; Dei Verbum— on Divine Revelation; Sacrosanctum Concilium—on the Sacred Liturgy; and Gaudium et Spes—on the Church in the Modern World. jose CFM
