60th Anniversary of Vatican Council IIThe Theology of the Second Vatican CouncilPaul VI, from the Second Vatican Council to dialogue with the worldIn recent years, some voices have been heard calling for an end to the application of the Second Vatican Council and the convocation of a Third Vatican Council to rethink the situation of the Church in this first quarter of the 21st century and to rethink strategies and communication for the millennium that has just begun.
Undoubtedly, all formulations of the faith and all calls to evangelization in a few years need to be reformulated because human expressions decay, are emptied of content, become routine and no longer express the ever-perennial content of Revelation. In any case, as the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us: "The word of God is living and active, like a two-edged sword that pierces to the depths of the soul" (Heb 4:12).
In reality, what is needed is to invoke the Holy Spirit again and again so that, based on the formulations of the faith approved by the Church's magisterium, he may enlighten the hearts of men and women. As St. Paul forcefully affirmed: "the letter kills, but the spirit gives life" (2 Cor 3:6).
Rereading Vatican Council II
On rereading the rich theology contained in the documents of the Second Vatican Council, the first thing that strikes one is the extraordinary freshness they contain, for they are written to powerfully convey the truth about Jesus Christ, the Church and the world.
Moreover, the theology of the laity, the sources of revelation, the freedom of conscience, the principle of religious freedom, the dignity of the human person, ecumenism, the common priesthood of the faithful, and so many other questions have filled the Christian message with vitality for the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century and are announcing that the Second Vatican Council still has a lot of life left in it. St. John Paul II affirmed in his Exhortation "The Church's mission in the world": "The Church's mission in the world".Novo Milenio ineunte"The Church's first dialogue with the contemporary world was undoubtedly to invite it to a knowledge of and friendship with Jesus Christ, which is holiness (n. 1).
The speeches of St. Paul VI delivered sixty years ago were of great optimism, for he truly expected a new springtime for the Church of Jesus Christ in the coming years.
Council Interpretations
As we well know, what happened is that prior to the arrival of the conciliar texts to the particular churches, there was a distortion of the conciliar doctrines promoted by the so-called "phenomenon of contestation", as Cardinal Ratzinger called it in his famous report on the faith, a long interview granted to the famous Italian journalist Messori.
Years later, as pontiff, Benedict XVI referred to those hard and sad years of the post-conciliar Church and interpreted them as "the hermeneutics of rupture" as opposed to the hermeneutics of Tradition.
Undoubtedly, the hermeneutics of Tradition was the application of the authentic council to the life of the Church and all its institutions throughout the world.
Universal call to holiness
The first and most important question was the universal call to holiness (cf. Lumen Gentium, n. 40), which in recent years the Magisterium has been able to put in conjunction with the common priesthood of the faithful (cf. Catechism, n. 1456) through which all Christians have discovered their call to the fullness of holiness and the beatitudes. At the same time, this common priesthood is expressed in the importance of the apostolic action of the lay faithful to be leaven in the masses and to exercise a capillary evangelization in the world, bringing the values of the Gospel and the news of Jesus Christ to all people.
Also, as "Gaudium et spes" affirmed, the lay faithful are "the soul of the world" (n. 4) and therefore must govern their families, the land where they work and all social and professional environments.
The journeys of the Holy Father St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, took the whole world and on many occasions. The presence of the Roman Pontiff to the last corner of the earth, carrying the flame of the love of God and love for the Church, fostered the union of the churches and at the same time valued local traditions, to be one people with one shepherd.
Human dignity
Undoubtedly, the conciliar doctrines on the dignity of the human person increased by revaluing human rights, but they also solidly grounded them by showing them to be based on man as the image and likeness of God. As God is in his intimate life subsistent relationships: subsistent relationship Paternity, subsistent relationship Filiation and subsistent relationship Love between the Father and the Son.
Therefore, man has been defined by the Council as relationship. Relationship with God in the first place and relationship with others. Coming from the love of God, it is finalized by God to love in the freedom of the children of God. Hence man in knowing and loving God and others is maturing and growing.
The application of the Council
If one reads all the Encyclicals and Apostolic Exhortations published by St. John Paul II, one can see that the Council has been applied to all the environments of the Church and to all facets of the Church's life. No questions were left unanswered: the Church, the mysteries of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the years dedicated to the Trinity, to the Eucharistic and penitential life. Truly, the Council shed much light. We also have the Catechism and the Code of Canon Law.
In the field of ecumenism, St. John Paul II published a fundamental Encyclical "Ut unum sint" which encouraged the Christian people to know and appreciate the part of common revelation with their separated brethren, to know and understand each other, and, as stated in "Unitatis redintegratio": we must work together for charity.
In fact, the synodality that Pope Francis has applied to the life of the Church in the third millennium was already advocated by the synods of bishops that have been held every two years in Rome with representation of the Universal Church, with which the various Roman Pontiffs have continued to apply the Second Vatican Council to the life of the universal Church.
