The Second Vatican Council, or better known as Vatican II, was the 21st ecumenical council announced by Pope John XXlll on Jan 25, 1959, as a spiritual renewal for the e as an occasion for Christians separated from Rome to join in search for reunion. This shocked Catholics around the world because there hadn’t been an ecumenical council in nearly 100 years.
In October 1958, Italian cardinal Angelo Guiseppe Roncalli was elected pope at the age of 77 and unexpectedly, less than 3 months into office, called for an ecumenical council. After years of formal preparations, the first meetings on October 11, 1962. In these first meeting, the pope advised the council fathers to try to meet the pastoral needs of the church. Those summoned to the council included all catholic bishops and certain other church dignitaries. Many important catholic observers were invited to the council sessions but couldn’t vote. The council revised decrees that grew out of the council
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After merely summoning and beginning the council, Pope John XXlll died midway through the council on June 3, 1963. The work of the council continued under Pope John’s successor, Paul IV. The council continued to meet each fall until felt they had completed their work on Dec.8, 1965. In total, 16 documents were enacted by the council fathers. Vatican II brought some major changes to the Roman Catholic Church. Most obvious were the changes in the liturgy. The “Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy” established the principle of greater participation by the lay people in the celebration of mass and authorizes significant changes in the texts, forms, and language used in the
The Pope has agreed to help defend the Byzantine Empire! After being appealed to by Emperor Alexius I Comnenus, in 1095, Pope Urban II assembled the Council of Clermont. In order to help the Byzantine Empire and ensure his power over the church he has decided to call for a military expedition to get back the Holy Land.
Elected in 1958 as a ‘caretaker Pope’, Pope John XXIII implemented the greatest reforms in the Church’s history. His involvement within the Church had played a significant contribution to the reforming of social, political and liturgical Christian traditions. During the early twentieth century, the Catholic Church still held the century old conservative beliefs and traditions as they continued to separate the Church from the secular world, therefore, disadvantaging the Church to a world that was modernising. In addition to this, the Church restricted modernist thoughts due to the belief that new theologies would threaten the power and authority of the Church, but ...
Pope Urban II was sought by Alexius Comnenus, a Byzantine Emperor who wanted the papacy to help his army hold off the advancing Seljuk Turks in Asia Minor. The reason for Alexius Comnenus contacting the pope rather than another emperor or monarch wasn’t just the fact they were secular, but because the pope would have more power to persuade the people. The Gregorian movement in 1050-80 was ultimately was responsible for the new instilled power of the papacy’s position over nonreligious rulers. The pope agreed to aid the Byzantine emperor, but he also had his own agenda when it came to the military advances and the new power of his position. The papacy did not intend to only help the Byzantine Empire but to further save all of Christendom from being overrun.
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome and the leader of the Catholic Church. This is something that started right after the death of Jesus. When Jesus resurrected, he said to St. Peter, “Feed my lambs.... Tend my sheep.... Feed my sheep.” This command given to Peter made him the head of the apostles, henceforth, making him the first Pope. Peter would rule for approximately 34 years, and when he died he was succeeded by St. Linus. The tradition of serving as Pope until death was started by Peter and has been carried on for centuries. Since Peter, there have been 264 Popes and very few have not stayed in power until their death. Most recently, and most commonly known, is Pope Benedict XVI. As the successor of John Paul II, Benedict chose to step down due to old age. Despite this, Pope Benedict did great things during his papacy.
More particularly, it recognizes the authority of the ecumenical councils at which East and West were represented together. These were the councils of Nicaea I (325), Constantinople (381), Ephesus(431), Chalcedon(451), Constantinople II (553), Constantinople III (680), and Nicaea II (787) (Encarta 1996). The power of teaching and guiding the community is bestowed on certain ministries, particularly that of the bishop of each diocese or is directed through certain institutions, such as councils...
The purpose of this question is to quench the personal interest that I have in Church history. As we began more dive more and more into Church history, my interest skyrocketed. I hope to learn more about the struggles that were overcome in Catholicism. The turmoil that stood as a result of the “church vs state” tension also gave me a purpose to learn more about how the present separation of Church and State began. Making the right decisions has not always been my best quality, and knowing that I am not alone, I evaluated Pope Clement X...
One of Vatican II's changes that took place was that Mass became vernacular. This change was very important because it made people feel more at a personal level when mass was held, seeing as though the priest was speaking their language. It made them feel more at home and increased their understanding and ability to respond. Another very major and important change that took place due to Vatican II was the relationship with the Church and the world. The Church is a human organization steered by the Holy Spirit and composed of the gifts and talents of its members.
Another major dividing issue between the two churches was the possession of power.Traditionally, the Pope was the top leader of the church and all matters of divinity were his concerns, but this changed when Eastern Europe adopted Caesaropapism. With this practice there was no separation of church and government. The emperor in the east began controlling the church through his newly appointed eastern Pope, and therefore controlled all divine and earthly matters. An example of this can be seen through Constantine's influence at the Council of Nicaea, around 325 C.E.
The liturgical movement was a huge reformation of many faiths. “The purpose of the movement was to connect tradition people and the church. During this movement the church tried to simplify its processes for everyday use. For instance, the Church translated some parts of the Mass from Latin to the language of the country of where the church resided. The priesthood also went through advanced training to ensure that they could properly execute every aspect of the Mass. This effort by the Christian churches established they wanted to people and the community to have motivation to preach and worship their particular faith .”
Not only was the pope the spiritual leader of the Catholic Church, he was also the political ruler of part of central Italy. This had been true since the Middle Ages. Pope Pius IX (r. 1846-1878) refused to give up any of his secular authority and did not recognize the Kingdom of Italy. This issue would not be resolved until 1929, with the creation of the Vatican
After serving in several parishes and becoming a well-known religious face in Poland, St. John Paul II became the bishop of Ombi. During the six year time period that his holiness was the Bishop of Ombi, he achieved one of his life’s major accomplishments: he became one of the leading thinkers on the Vatican II council. While he was on the Vatican II council, John Paul contributed to two very important documents: The Decree on Religious Freedom and The Pastoral Constitution on the Church.... ... middle of paper ...
The Church had not been blind in its need for reform. Many of the leaders had encouraged Pope Julius II to call a council. In 1512, he called the Fifth Lateran Council. The popes had become skittish about calling ecumenical councils because of the heresy of Conciliarism. The weakness that the Avignon Papacy and the Western Schism caused the Papacy led to Conciliarism. Conciliarism held the idea that a general council was greater and than that of the Pope. In fact, a council had no authority in Church matters unless called and approved by the residing Pope. Hence, by the time the Fifth Lateran Council closed in 1517, it had failed to reform the abuses that were going on in the Church. The climate was right for the message of the Reformers.
The Church was organised into a hierarchical system that sustained the Church’s stability and control over the people and lower clergy, by organising them into different groups. First there were the ordinary believers, the citizens of the kingdom who followed the Christian faith. Then there was the clergy, the members who devoted their lives to the church. Each group of the clergy was assigned specific functions by the clergy nobles to help run the Church competently. Amongst all the clergy associates, the Pope was at the top, he had the equivalent if not more power than the ruling monarch and was in charge of all political affairs and administered the clergy. He was able to dictate political laws and even comment on the Monarch’s decisions. Under the Pope, there were the bishops. The bishops directed church courts and managed cases correlated to the public such as marriage, wills and other public predicaments. Priests held religious services that consisted of sacraments, baptisms and the usual Sabbath services. The monks and nuns received manual labour that required helping clean the monasteries and assist the needy. Educated monks copied manuscripts of medieval and ancient knowledge in the Scriptorium. Finally...
Christianity most specifically, the Holy Roman Catholic Church has been involved in the world throughout time. Since Christianity, when if first became a major religion in society the involvement of the Roman Catholic Church has affected many areas of history. The Roman Catholic Church has affected the world historically, as demonstrated by it's impact upon the historical figures like Hypatia, Joan of Arc, and Jan Hus, historical events such as the Salem Witch Trials, and many other eras and events. The Roman Catholic Church slowed down scientific advancement during the Middle Ages when they had the greatest control over society, due to their personal beliefs. Finally, the Roman Catholic Church for a time changed the world ethically for women and homosexuals, although this is not inclusive. Without the extreme control the Roman Catholic Church had, the world would be a completely different place to live in. To prove this, topics such as the effect the Roman Catholic Church has had throughout history, how science has been affected by the Roman Catholic Church, and how the Roman Catholic Church has affected society ethically to a small and temporary degree.
Perhaps no other event was as influential to the rise of papacy in Rome as the decline of the Roman empire. With the decline of the empire, the church became the last refuge of stability. Without the protection of the empire, Rome was subject to poverty, disrepair, and attack from enemies.1 The rise of the papacy was a response to this situation. It was further cemented by the leadership of such men as Leo I and Gregory I, the latter sometimes referred to as the father of the medieval papacy.2 Finally, the granting of lands and authority to the bishop of Rome greatly increased the power of the Roman church.3