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The Second Vatican Council

Decent Essays

Pope John XXII’s surprising call for a general council during the early months of his papacy not only stunned the Church, but allowed him to achieve one of his personal goals for his papacy and enabled the Church to seek renewal of doctrines, unification with the universal church, and increase the Church’s relevancy. John XXIII saw the need to call the Second Vatican Council in order to update Church so to more efficiently and effectively minister to the faithful and respond to the needs of the Church in the modern era. With modernization came the need also for unification and ecumenical dialogues which could only come as a product of the Council updates and openness. This ecumenical council was not called as a continuance of the First …show more content…

This was John XXIII’s way of attacking the passivism of the Church and forcing it to update itself and the way the Deposit of Faith is presented (27). The vision for this council was based on John XXIII’s ideas that it would renew Catholicism, which in part would help to make ecumenical dialogue easier and increase pastoral understanding of reforms for the Church and the faithful, all while being true to Christ’s teachings and example (Albergio, 14). None of the goals of the pontiff had would have been possible without an open structure for bishops to voice their theological ideas and opinions, thus this was one of the important characteristics of Vatican II for John XXIII. Open and inclusive formatting was necessary for without such an area for dialogue passivity would remain in the Church, thus hindering the outcomes of Vatican II and Pope John XXIII’s vision (14).
Vatican II was called to bring renewal, unity, and relevance and openness to the Church, at the request of Pope John XXIII and by necessity of modern times. This council was gathered and envisioned as a “new Pentecost” (Albergio, 10), for the Council held the objective of renewing and updating the Church in order to have a more relevant and effective role in the modern world. This updating would, and did, increase the Church’s voice and involvement in the universal church increasing unity and ecumenical

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