Impact Of Pope John 23

The Pope is the head of the Church: he represents the ultimate religious authority. However, as a Bishop of Rome, the Pope is also in command of certain secular affairs, including some military aspects. Certainly, the Pope is a link between the earthly and the divine realms. Problems arise when the imperfect world the Pope physically lives in interferes with his heavenly objectives. Taking Pope Gregory I as an example, I am going to look at his letters to analyze how he reconciled his political and spiritual goals, whether he valued one category over the other, and how he justified it.

Research on Martin Luther was chosen to demonstrate the importance of his works, and decisions that not only fueled his purpose, but changed the church for generations to come. Martin Luther propelled himself into his work and was not afraid of voicing his often strong opinion of the Catholic Church. Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses provides readers his opinion of the church, calling out failures, and known corruption of leaders within.

The essence of the contribution made by Pope John XXIII was his calling together of the Second Vatican Council that aimed to address modernisation of the Catholic Church,

Pope John XXIII played a vital role in shaping Christianity as we know it today. He contributed socially, politically and liturgically and was a major influence in the establishment of ecumenism and interfaith dialogue between other churches and religions. He advocated Christian unity, social justice, human rights and the promotion of world peace, and his openness to all people led to him obtaining the name “Good Pope John”.

In the United States, there has often been debate over whether the U.S. Constitution is a “living constitution.” A “living constitution” is the idea that the interpretation of constitutional phrases should take into account the contemporaneous society. In other words, practices and traditions of the government have the ability to change and transform over time in accordance with the changes in society. Similarly, there has often been debate in the religious community as to whether the practices and traditions of the church have the ability to change and transform in order to better suit the needs of its constituents. Two Popes in the Roman Catholic church, Pope Francis and Pope Pius IX, have published documents with opposing viewpoints about the church’s ability to change and transform over time. The aforementioned documents also highlight other issues commonly debated within the church. Ultimately, Pope Francis favors a more progressive church, that is opento change, while Pope Pius IX favors a church with more rigid guidelines that follow traditional practices.

The Second Vatican Council, or Vatican II as it is often called, was an Ecumenical Council, (which means it affected the worldwide Christian community) of the Roman Catholic Church. It began on October 11, 1962 under, Pope John XXIII with over two thousand attendants (Hollis 23). The council ended on December 8, 1965, with Pope Paul VI presiding over the council due to the death of Pope John XXIII in 1963. The council consisted of four different sessions convening in the fall of the four years during which the council took place. Topics discussed and debated throughout the council were issues concerning the church, the liturgy, revelation and scripture, and the clergy.

As time constantly presses forward and the earth continues to revolve, the world will never stop progressing and adapting to better suit the needs of mankind. The evolution of religion has greatly enhanced the quality of life for humanity by providing individuals with a strong belief system that is now the foundation of many peoples’ core values. One universal religion that has undergone extensive amounts of reform is Christianity. In particular, the Catholic church is well-known for the development of their famous ecumenical council meetings that help determine the future of the church. Numerous Councils have been conducted throughout the course of history, but none more significant than the most recent, the Second Vatican Council or Vatican II. The Catholic church was operating as if it was still the medieval period and desperately needed to be modernized. As a result, every Roman Catholic Church official was gathered to meet and devise a plan for how to introduce the church to the modern world. Consequently, the following will reveal the Second Vatican Council and the ramifications of the agenda, history and theology evolution, significant texts, and new developments.

500 years ago, Catholicism was the only religion practiced in western Europe. Without having someone who cared more for the love of God rather than money, this recreation would not have succeeded. Martin Luther, a monk who believed in loving God and worshipping him without having to pay for God’s love. Martin Luther was the first person to defy the Catholic Church and succeeded by recreating an entire religion. Martin Luther’s writings and teachings began, supported, and created doctrine for the Protestant Reformation.

Pope St. Gregory VII had his vision on how the Church was supposed to be structured and what needed to change. He firmly planted his beliefs because he could see that the Church did not live up to its standards. He became a leader when the Church needed him the most. He did not conform to the current state of the Church and encountered incessant obstacles with a relentless determination overcome them. As pope, St. Gregory VII valiantly confronted the challenges, social issues, and corruption of the Church to cleanse its noticeable defects.

Mary Jo Weaver writes about American Catholics in the Twentieth Century. According to Weaver, Catholics on the 20th Century faced a tough challenge adapting to the new changes after Second Vatican Council. Catholics were a close circle and were forced to accept the new changes such as democracy and pluralism. The dialogue with other religions such as Jews and Protestants were more acceptable. Mary Jo Weaver concludes that the Second Vatican Council was to address pastoral problems, which was a big deal with the Catholic Church. Catholicism needed a new attitude towards their beliefs. The ghettos were no longer a closed circle for Catholics; they began to become more integrated in society. The hierarchal authority also changed, power move to

Pope John Paul II like any other religious authority was an opponent of war and denounced it on any such chance he could. During the time period of his reign many wars and massacres took place, and Pope John Paul did everything he could to prevent or shorten these wars such as speaking to the political leaders involved, or saying words of courage and reform to the people. Pope John Paul also played an important role in the fall of communism in his native Poland. Through his words of prayer to the people, his pilgrimages of peace, and the establishment of solidarity John Paul was able to end communism in Poland for good. For this His Holiness also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. John Paul did the same countries such as: Paraguay, Haiti and Chile which were under dictators at the time. One of the most admirable qualities about Pope John Paul II was his love and respect for all other religions. It was often talked about his relations with leaders of all other religions and the religions itself. There were three things that most people say Pope John Paul II loved the most. The first thing was the Eucharist. Many say that once his holiness saw the Eucharist he would get derailed from whatever he was doing and go into deep prayer for several hours, and there was nothing anyone could

The council tried to improve discipline among their clergy and improve their abused systems. The reforms did reaffirm the Roman Catholic Church and ideology, while not being perfect. Addressing these concerned brought by Protestants, it led to today’s Catholic Church. The newly reformed church reaffirmed their doctrines and sacraments. Church-approved art, liturgical music and spiritual devotions were encouraged to focus the faithful, and new religious orders were allowed to form, the Jesuits being the most famous and

He changed Christianity forever with the telling of the abuses of the church by the clergy. Luther was often times known as the “father of Protestanism.” John Calvin was also known for criticizing the Catholic Church. He believed a person had an individual relationship to God.

His humanisation of the role of the Pope has resulted in improved communication between the lay people and himself, enabling him to initiate changes in Christianity such as the creation of peaceful multi-faith dialogue in order to gain mutual understandings and grounds on various issues. Furthermore, Pope John XXIII’s engagement in world affairs, most notably the Cuban missile crisis, the fostering of world peace through strengthening the United Nations and advocacy of women’s rights has positively shaped the lives of adherents through the use of a pacifist approach towards conflict with respect to the dignity and rights of people. Moreover, the instigation of the Second Vatican Council that has enabled the laity to engage in their faith in mass through the translation of the scriptures (the vernacular), vastly renewing the adherent’s understanding of their tradition. Pope John XXIII recognised the importance of marriage and the formation of family for its capacity to shape the lives of adherents as a whole society: “The family, founded upon marriage freely contracted, one and indissoluble, must be regarded as the natural, primary cell of human society. The interests of the family, therefore, must be taken very specially into consideration in social and economic affairs, as well as in the spheres of faith and morals.” Pope John XXIII was also strong advocate for human rights including those of the unborn. He believed that “human life is sacred from its very inception” (Mater et Magistra) and wrote about human rights in his final encyclical ‘Pacem in Terris’ issued in 1963: "Man has the right to live. He has the right to bodily integrity and to the means necessary for the proper development of

The next text is from the 2nd Vatican Council called “Pastoral Constitution,” which focused on bringing the church into modern times. This text focuses on the importance of helping those being marginalized, those who are on the brink of society, and what is the best way that the Church as a community can fight to protect them.