Second Vatican Council

The 21st ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, held in Vatican City from 1962 to 1965. Its constitutions, decrees, and declarations reshaped Catholic worship, church governance, and relations with other religions and the modern world.

Sacrosanctum Concilium: The Second Vatican Council’s constitution on the sacred liturgy, promulgated in 1963. It set the principles behind the council’s reform of Catholic worship.
Ecumenical council: A formal assembly of Catholic bishops convened to deliberate on doctrine, discipline, or church governance. Vatican II exercised this highest form of collective episcopal deliberation.
Pope John XXIII: The pope who convened the Second Vatican Council in 1962 and presided over its first session. He called the council and framed its purpose as aggiornamento.
Mass of Paul VI: The form of the Roman Rite promulgated by Pope Paul VI after the Second Vatican Council’s liturgical reform. It implemented the council’s directives for revising the Roman liturgy.
Pope Paul VI: The pope who continued the Second Vatican Council after John XXIII’s death and brought it to a close in 1965. He guided the final three sessions and promulgated the council’s documents.
Lumen gentium: The Second Vatican Council’s dogmatic constitution on the Church, promulgated in 1964. It reframed the Church’s identity, structure, and role of the laity.
Council of bishops: An assembly of bishops that deliberates and makes decisions on matters of church teaching and governance. Bishops debated drafts, proposed amendments, and voted on the council’s documents.
Pope Pius XII: The pope who led the Catholic Church from 1939 to 1958 and authorized important biblical and liturgical developments. Reforms during his pontificate helped prepare ground for Vatican II.
Ecumenism: Efforts to foster unity and cooperation among Christian churches and communities. Vatican II made ecumenical engagement a defined responsibility of the Catholic Church.
Yves Congar: A French Dominican theologian whose work on the Church and ecumenism influenced twentieth-century Catholic theology. His theology helped shape the council’s teaching on the Church and Christian unity.

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