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Pentecost
Conciliar

The Second Vatican Council

The Roman Catholic Church engages the modern world.

1962–1965Vatican City, Rome

Convened by Pope John XXIII, the Second Vatican Council renewed Roman Catholic worship, opened dialogue with other Christians and other faiths, and reshaped the Church's engagement with the modern world.

The interior nave of St. Peter's Basilica, Rome, where the Second Vatican Council met — photograph by Giorgio Sommer, before 1914.
Interior of St. Peter's Basilica — Giorgio Sommer, before 1914 — Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

Pope John XXIII surprised the Church in 1959 by calling a council — not to answer a heresy, as most councils had, but for aggiornamento, a bringing-up-to-date. The Second Vatican Council met in four sessions from 1962 to 1965.

Its decrees renewed the liturgy — permitting worship in the vernacular rather than only Latin — and reframed the Church's relationships: with other Christian traditions, with Judaism and other faiths, and with the modern secular world. It described the Church as the pilgrim 'people of God.'

Vatican II is the most significant event in Roman Catholic history since the Reformation, and its interpretation remains debated within that tradition. Theologos describes those decrees and debates on the Roman Catholic tradition page.