CHURCH COUNCILS AND DOCUMENTSCLE FOURTH YEAR

The Second Vatican Council(Vatican II)

Pope John XXIII

• Convoked the Second Vatican Council Ecumenical Council.• The 21st in the history of the Catholic

Church and 93 years from the last one, in order to have an “aggiornamento.”• “Aggiornamento,” a renewal and

updating of the Church, in the modern world.

October 11, 1962

• The Council opened and attended by;2,450 – Council Fathers from all parts of the

world1,000 – specialists in 12 pre-Council

commissions 3 – secretariats since the official notice

for the intended ecumenical council on January 25, 1959.

The four sessions of the Council

1. October 11-December 8, 1962 – the first session was held under the saintly octogenarian Pope John XXIII.

2. September 29-December 4, 19633. September 14-November 21, 19644. September 14-December 8, 1965 – were

under his successor, Pope Paul VI.

The 16 Documents

4 ConstitutionsLumen Gentium (on the nature of the Church)Dei Verbum (on divine revelation)Sacrosanctum Concilium (on the Liturgy)Gaudium et Spes (on the Church in the modern world)

9 Decrees

Christus Dominus (on the pastoral office of bishops)Presbyterorum Ordinis (on the ministry and life of priests)Optatam Totius (on the priestly formation)Perfectae Caritatis (on the renewal of religious life)Apostolicam Actuositatem (on the apostolate of the laity)

Orientalium Ecclesiarum (on the oriental Catholic Churches)Ad Gentes Divinitus (on the missionary activity of the Church)Unitatis Redintegratio (on ecumenism)Inter Mirifica (on the mass media of social communication)

3 Declarations

Dignitatis Humanae (on religious freedom)Gravissimum Educationis (on Christian education)Nostra Aetate (on the relations of the Church with non-Christian religions)

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Pope John Paul II• The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) was

approved and ordered published in 1992.• Reasons:– It is a statement of the Catholic Church’s faith and our

Catholic doctrines attested to by Sacred Scripture, Apostolic Tradition, and the Magisterium.

– It is to be a sure norm and an authentic reference text for teaching the faith, and so an effective and valid instrument for ecclesial communion.

– It was in 1985, at the Extraordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the 20th anniversary of Vatican II,

• Reasons:– that the desire was voiced for a universal catechism of all

Catholic doctrine regarding both faith and morals that could be the point of reference fro the various regional or national catechisms.

• The six-year work on the catechism was entrusted in 1986 to a commision of cardinals and bishops headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, assisted by many experts and the observations by the bishops of the whole world.

• The result was the fruit of the collaboration of the whole episcopate of the Catholic Church.

• The CCC is not to replace, but to encourage and assist in the writing of local catechism.

• In 2005, Pope Benedict XVI came out with the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a faithful, concise, and clear synthesis of the CCC which allows both believers and non-believers to view panoramically the entire Catholic faith.

Four Parts of the CCC1. The Creed: The Profession of Faith

2. The Sacred Liturgy: The Celebration of the Christian Mystery

3. The Christian way of Life: Life in Christ4. The Christian Prayer