Sixty years on, the message of Vatican II still resonates

When around 2000 bishops from across the globe sat down in St Peter’s Basilica in October 1962, they knew it was a momentous occasion. What they did not know was that this Second Vatican Council—nearly 100 years after the first—would run for more than three years, span two papacies and still have repercussions for Catholics and their Church 60 years later.

‘The agenda completely blew out,’ said Rev Dr Max Vodola, a Church historian at Catholic Theological College (CTC). ‘Initially it was only meant to be one session, but as the draft documents became much more detailed, it ended up going to four distinct sessions.’

Delivering a lecture as part of CTC’s Engaging Your Faith online seminar series, Fr Vodola explained that many of the themes of Vatican II have lived on in more recent papal teachings, in particular those of the late Pope Francis and now, by all appearances, Pope Leo XIV. These themes include the importance of listening, dialogue and shared decision-making—referred to now as ‘synodality’—a practice rooted in the ecclesiological principles established during Vatican II, he said.

Importantly, almost 60 years on from the end of Vatican II, the council’s principles continue to shape Catholic identity and practice, especially as the Church navigates new challenges in the modern world.

The council was the successor to Vatican I (1869-70), held during a period of immense upheaval in Europe. According to Fr Vodola, its main outcome—the assertion of papal authority—led many to believe there would be no need for another ecumenical council. But the Church has a long history of such meetings, some more momentous than others, and many, like Vatican II, have been in response to crises.

The 20th century was marked by upheavals—world wars, economic chaos and ideological extremism of various kinds. ‘There was a great social and cultural change to people’s lives, to family life, work life, education, the role of women,’ Dr Vodola said, and this, along with the geopolitical crises, prompted Pope John XXIII to call Vatican II.

Fr Vodola said the council responded to a growing desire for the Church to engage more with modernity. Another aim was to seek greater Christian unity through better relationships with other Christian denominations, he said. Orthodox and Protestant church leaders were invited to observe the Vatican II sessions, and there were also discussions on improving interfaith dialogue with other world religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Judaism.

The Church was also grappling with several internal issues, Fr Vodola said. The role of the laity was being reconsidered, with calls for laypeople to move from being passive participants to active agents in the Church’s mission. Responding to this, laymen were invited to participate in Vatican II sessions in non-voting capacities. Then, according to Fr Vodola, at the end of the second session, Belgian Cardinal Leo Suenens asked, ‘How can we talk about the Church in the world when half the world isn’t here?’ This led Pope Paul VI (elected after John XXIII’s death in 1963) to appoint 23 women to join the next Vatican II session—including an Australian expert on the laity, Rosemary Goldie.

Ideas around biblical renewal and liturgical participation were gaining momentum during the postwar era, Fr Vodola said. There had been a push in the 1950s for the Scriptures, via a more accessible translation of the Bible, to play as much of a role for the faithful as the sacraments did. Also, as Fr Vedola noted, ‘the Mass was in Latin, all the ceremonies were in Latin, [and] there wasn’t a great sense of awareness of the liturgy, [or] a participation.’ The idea of a less hierarchical Church, more oriented towards the lived experience of faith, began to take shape.

Social justice concerns, inspired by papal encyclicals like Leo XIII’s Rerum novarum, were increasingly prominent, as the Church addressed issues arising from industrialisation and economic disparity. It was also responding to postcolonial movements and a growing international awareness of the disparities between different countries.

The Church [is] an instrument of communion with God and the unity of the whole human race.

‘All these ideas were circulating before the council,’ Fr Vodola said. ‘By the time it finished in 1965, the council [had] approved 16 documents—four constitutions, nine decrees and six declarations.’ Some of the key developments and changes were groundbreaking for the time, he added, and still resonate today.

One example Fr Vodola gave concerned one of the principal documents, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen gentium. ‘It recovered the more biblical image of the Church as the People of God. And then the council described the hierarchical order: from the People of God, the baptised, from which come those of the unique vocations: bishops, priests, cardinals, the Pope, missionaries, religious men and women. But first of all, we are made one.

One of the distinctive things about Lumen gentium was its use of the phrase ‘the universal call of holiness’. This explains the ongoing push for synodality, Fr Vodola said, through its edict that ‘the laity are entitled and sometimes duty-bound to express their opinions on matters which concern the good of the Church.’

In an even more significant move, the council asserted that many elements of that ‘holiness’ could be found outside the structures of the Church. ‘[It said] we recognise that God’s Spirit is at work in the sanctification and truth of non-Catholic, non-Christian religions of the world. It described the Church as … an instrument of communion with God and the unity of the whole human race.’

As an ecumenical council, Vatican II broke new ground as it set out to foster renewal through dialogue and openness, Fr Vodola said. Although it has been 60 years since the end of Vatican II, those ideas are still percolating, and many of its themes continue to echo throughout the Church.