The Council and its aftermath

Had Pope John XXIII kept tight to the originally appointed date of autumn 1963 for convoking the Second Vatican Council, then he would have never seen his dream materialise and most probably, the Catholic Church would have remained without Vatican II, for before summer of that year was in, the Pontiff had passed away. Fortunately, John was more convinced of starting his enormous project than those around him were determined to delay it.

Xavier Rynne, in his Letters from Vatican City, wrote that each time a Vatican official approached John XXIII with a suggestion for postponing his new Council, the Pope advanced the target date. Hence, if some advocates of postponement were prompted by the hope that eternity would spare them the ordeal of a council, they had only themselves to blame for the fact that Vatican II was inaugurated a year earlier than planned.

John knew that those who elected him intended his pontificate to be a weak and temporary one. He realised that the higher officials of the Roman Curia wanted to keep him happily blessing the crowds while they'll be discreetly governing the Church, but even if he knew that his days were counted, as long as he was alive, on no account was he going to be weak or let the rudder of Peter's barque out of his hand. This was John XXIII.

The first question that he had to face was whether he intended to resume Vatican I, which had been disbanded on September 20, 1870 when Italian troops entered Rome, or whether his council was to be something completely new. So he started off by declaring the previous council officially closed.

It was clear that he wanted to hear the views of all Catholicism on the condition of the Church. So all bishops were invited, first to consult with others in their diocese and then submit suggestions about the various topics, which were to be discussed by the Council Fathers. No restrictions or limitations were imposed either on matter to be considered or the way of dealing with problems or proposals. This led the preparatory commissions to be faced with some 2,000 files of submissions and proposals.

On the other hand, the Roman Curia had its own plans. Convinced of the Pope's determination to set the ball rolling, the Vatican officials, whose primary tactic was based on sine die postponement, embarked on a different game. They believed that by dominating the commissions that were entrusted to prepare the initial drafts, which were to be submitted for discussion, they would be able to steer the Council through calm waters.

This they did not do because of some malignity in their intentions but because they believed that with his council, Pope John was opening a Pandora's box upon the Church. They were terrified, filled with alarm and nightmares. A number of them honestly believed that the Catholic Church had never passed through such a dreadful experience. Cardinal Ottaviani remarked that not all that was new was true and good just because it was new and that as head of the Holy Office, his duty was to keep intact the deposit of faith.

On the other hand, those bishops who favoured dialogue and renewal were themselves uncertain of what was about to happen. To the very last minute they were in doubt whether the council was going to be a replica of Vatican I, securing even more the power already held by Rome, or one that would give the Church a new and wider image. Many of them went to Rome simply because they had been called. Even famous theologians like Yves Congar and Hans Küng were pessimistic.

The Pope's inaugural address, on October 11, 1962, settled the whole matter. It was neither a programme that the Pontiff wanted the Council Fathers to follow nor was it merely a congratulatory speech of welcome. instead, the speech correlated Vatican II with the great conciliar tradition of the Church and emphasised that its main goal was to bear witness to the contemporary world that Christ was still the centre of human history and of life.

"In the daily exercise of our pastoral office," said the Pope, "we sometimes have to listen, much to our regret, to voices of persons who, though burning with zeal, are not endowed with much sense of discretion or measure. In these modern times they can see nothing but prevarication and ruin. They say that our era, in comparison with past eras, is getting worse, and they behave as though they had learned nothing from history, which is, nonetheless, the teacher of life. They behave as though at the time of former councils everything was a full triumph for the Christian ideal and life and for proper religious liberty."

Those for whom the message was intended knew that the Pope was particularly talking to them, but once he had started, John would not stop before driving the nail completely in. "We feel that we must disagree with these prophets of gloom who are always forecasting disaster as though the end of the world were at hand."

The following couple of days were the most crucial of all. The meeting of the third day, during which the bishops were called to elect the members of the various commissions, ended up being the shortest of all the Council - barely 15 minutes - but probably the most important.

Being aware of the great importance that these Council Commissions had in the formulation of the final documents that would ultimately be promulgated, the Vatican officials circulated a list of those bishops whom the Roman Curia had chosen to prepare the original schemas. Electing the same members would have also implied the quasi-automatic approval of the original texts. Vatican II would have been a mere rubber-stamp of old policies as documented in the original schemas prepared by Rome.

Nevertheless, a good number of bishops were dissatisfied with the drafted documents presented to them. Within the Italian episcopal conference itself, Cardinal Montini, who a few months later was elected Pope Paul VI, expressed his view that the bishops were not yet prepared to elect the commissions and suggested that the election be postponed. There was also considerable unease among the French, the Belgians, the Dutch and the Germans. Some Fathers were greatly annoyed when they learnt that Cardinal Ottaviani had tried to influence the work of the council by quietly circulating, in some circles, a list of shadow commissions, which he considered as "safe".

As the voting for the 160 members to serve on the commissions was about to begin, the elderly Cardinal Liénart of Lille stood up and on a point of order read a short motion asking that the voting be postponed for a few days so that the Fathers might have time to get to know one another.

The fact that Liénart's intervention was received with great applause by most of those present was regarded as the first defeat inflicted on the secretariat, which intended to conduct the proceedings of the Council with an iron rod. Most bishops were obviously pleased but the inner circle of the Vatican considered this move as one of protest and criticism.

Pope John was at that moment following everything on a closed circuit television system, which was specially installed in his private apartment. He later called Cardinal Liénart and told him, "Your Eminence, you have done right in expressing yourself aloud. After all, that is why I have called the Council."

By the end of the first session, on December 8, 1962, there was some progress registered in the discussion about the reformation of Sacred Liturgy but no documents had been approved or consensus found. Even so, despite this lack of concrete results, the final outcome of the whole enterprise appeared to be quite promising. Most of those participating in the two-month session knew that a revolution had already been accomplished for although in its earliest stages the council managed to restore to the Catholic Church a yearning for the purity and simplicity that the Church of Christ had at its birth.

On June 3, 1963, Pope John XXIII passed away. The question that immediately came to mind was, "Would his successor allow the Council to go ahead?" The new Pope had every right to decide whether to pursue his predecessor's venture or to call it off. Immediately after his election as Paul VI, Giovanni Battista Montini announced that Vatican II would resume its work immediately.

October 11 this year marked the 40th anniversary of the opening of Vatican II. Despite the great internal opposition to the whole idea, not only before and throughout the meetings themselves, but also during the years that followed, the Council was to revolutionise the outlook of the Church. Overestimating its enormous impact is hard, for there was not a single aspect of Catholicism that was left untouched.

The most sweeping and apparent reforms were undoubtedly those taking place in the liturgy; however a thorough examination of the Council's 16 documents reveals that the bishops' concerns were more far-reaching and encompassing than just a few cosmetic touches in ritual and ceremony.

After nearly two whole millennia of history, the bishops conceived a Church no longer as a juridical institution, always ready to dictate and condemn, but as a people, bound together in a common pilgrimage. With Vatican II, she became more open to dialogue, not only as an overconfident teacher, who had a lot to give, but also a humble student, who had also much to learn and receive.

A lot of attention was given to the responsibility of the hierarchy and the character of sacred ministry, but much more was devoted to that of the laity, for although the lay apostolate had existed in Christianity ever since its institution, however never before had an ecumenical council officially decree on the right and duty of every baptised person to hold an important and significant position in the mission of the Church.

One document, which during its formulation was not lacking in drama, was the dogmatic constitution about the Word of God. When the original draft was presented for discussion and approval, it was faced with such criticism from the Council Fathers that a vote was taken to decide whether the text should be returned for rewriting.

Sixty per cent voted in favour of a new draft; however this was insufficient, for according to Council regulations, such a severe decision required a majority vote of 75 per cent. Fortunately, Pope John intervened by overruling the existing policy and constituting a new commission to write afresh the whole content.

Vatican II was the 21st ecumenical council of the Church, but in a number of ways, there was no other one like it before. Never before had such a council addressed some of its documents to those outside the Church - the men and women of good will. It was the first council to speak directly about the issue of ecumenism and dialogue with other religions; and probably it was also the first to refrain from issuing any condemnation of errors and heresies.

However, the most remarkable outcome of the Council was an awareness of the Church's need to stop being primarily a European religion. Her mission was intended to be among all nations. Her Catholic character demanded a universality that would extend beyond all boundaries.

On the last day of the Council, during his closing speech to the bishops, Paul VI said that in the unique assembly gathered at the Vatican basilica, there converged together the past, the present, and the future of the Catholic Church. The past was there, for in St Peter's was gathered the Church of Christ with all her tradition and history, her councils, doctors and saints.

The present was an actual reality, for at the end of the Council the bishops were taking leave of one another to go out towards the world, with all its miseries, its sufferings and sins, but also with all its prodigious accomplishments, its values and its virtues. Lastly there was the future, being heard in the urgent appeal of the peoples for more justice, in their will for peace and in their conscious or unconscious thirst for a higher life.

That which for Pope Paul lay in the future our youngsters may today learn from their history books. Now is only for them to be the better judges and determine whether in the course of these last four decades, we have succeeded in fulfilling the expectations that most of us have shared during those wonderful years of Vatican II.