This Week at Vatican II

787 AD -- The Seventh Ecumenical Council

2009-11-11T13:55:00.004-06:00

The Second Council of Nicaea
was convoked by Emperor Constantine VI and his mother Irene, under Pope Adrian I, and was presided over by the legates of Pope Adrian; it regulated the veneration of holy images. Between 300 and 367 bishops assisted.

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680 - 681 AD -- The Sixth Ecumenical Council

2009-10-28T08:12:00.005-05:00

The Third Council of Constantinople, under Pope Agatho and the Emperor Constantine Pogonatus, was attended by the Patriarchs of Constantinople and of Antioch, 174 bishops, and the emperor. It put an end to Monothelitism by defining two wills in Christ, the Divine and the human, as two distinct principles of operation. It anathematized Sergius, Pyrrhus, Paul, Macarius, and all their followers.

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The Connection ... Between the Popes and the Ecumenical Councils

2009-10-27T09:16:00.001-05:00

Notice that the Church's ecumenical councils were presided over by either the Pope or his legate(s). A council in opposition to the pope is not representative of the whole Church, for it neither represents the pope who opposes it, nor the absent bishops, who cannot act beyond the limits of their authority except through the pope. A council not only acting independently of the Vicar of Christ, but sitting in judgment over him, is unthinkable in the constitution of the Church.

(In fact, such assemblies have only taken place in times of great constitutional disturbances, when either there was no pope or the rightful pope was indistinguishable from antipopes. In such abnormal times the safety of the Church becomes the supreme law, and the first duty of the abandoned flock is to find a new shepherd, under whose direction the existing evils may be remedied.)

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553 AD -- The Fifth Ecumenical Council

2009-10-22T15:03:00.001-05:00

The Second Council of Constantinople, with 165 bishops under Pope Vigilius and Emperor Justinian I, condemned the errors of Origen and certain writings (The Three Chapters) of Theodoret, of Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia and of Ibas, Bishop of Edessa; it further confirmed the first four general councils, especially that of Chalcedon whose authority was contested by some heretics.

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451AD -- The Fourth Ecumenical Council

2009-10-21T08:00:00.002-05:00

The Council of Chalcedon — 150 bishops under Pope Leo the Great and the Emperor Marcian — defined the two natures (Divine and human) in Christ against Eutyches, who was excommunicated.

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431 AD -- The Third Ecumenical Council

2009-10-20T09:19:00.001-05:00

The Council of Ephesus, of more than 200 bishops, presided over by St. Cyril of Alexandria representing Pope Celestine I, defined the true personal unity of Christ, declared Mary the Mother of God (theotokos) against Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople, and renewed the condemnation of Pelagius.

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381 AD -- The Second Ecumenical Council

2009-10-19T13:03:00.003-05:00

The First General Council of Constantinople, under Pope Damasus and the Emperor Theodosius I, was attended by 150 bishops. It was directed against the followers of Macedonius, who impugned the Divinity of the Holy Ghost. To the Nicene Creed it added the clauses referring to the Holy Ghost (qui simul adoratur) and all that follows to the end.

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325 AD -- The First Ecumenical Council

2009-10-18T09:30:00.003-05:00

The Council of Nicaea lasted two months and twelve days. Three hundred and eighteen bishops were present. Hosius, Bishop of Cordova, assisted as legate of Pope Sylvester. The Emperor Constantine was also present. To this council we owe The Creed (Symbolum) of Nicaea, defining against Arius the true Divinity of the Son of God (homoousios), and the fixing of the date for keeping Easter (against the Quartodecimans).

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(Part Five) BOTH CONTINUITY ... AND REFORM

2009-10-14T16:52:00.004-05:00

"The Church,

both before the Council

and after the Council,

is the same

one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church,

journeying through time."

-- Benedict XVI

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(Part Four) THE REACTION OF THE WORLD'S CARDINALS...

2009-10-11T09:30:00.005-05:00

The first reactions of several very prominent European Cardinals were similar to those of the Cardinals who had been present for Pope John's announcement:

CARDINAL KOENIG OF VIENNA:

"When the elderly Pope John announced the Council, I felt great suprise -- but also some doubt about the success of the event."

CARDINAL LERCARO OF BOLOGNA:

"... a rash and impulsive decision."

CARDINAL MONTINI OF MILAN:

"What a hornets' nest!"

Yet...

Cardinal Koenig would become a great advocate of reform at the Council. He would serve on the Council's preparatory commissions and contribute greatly to its declarations on non-Christian religions and ecumenism.

Cardinal Lercaro would become one of the main architects of the Council's liturgical reform and would be considered a major papabile in the Conclave of 1963.

Cardinal Montini would be elected Pope in 1963 -- and guide the Council through the last three of its four sessions.

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(Part Three) POPE JOHN'S OWN WORDS ANNOUNCING THE COUNCIL

2009-10-10T10:43:00.003-05:00

"In the heart of this lowly priest
whom, despite his unworthiness,
the manifest indication of divine providence
has led to this height of the supreme Pontificate,

these observations arouse a decisive resolve
to recall certain ancient forms for stating doctrine
and for making wise provision for Church discipline.

In ages of renewal in the history of the Church,
these ancient forms have produced extraordinarily effective fruits
     by clarifying thought,
     by consolidating religious unity,
     by enlivening the flame of Christian fervor….

Venerable brothers and beloved sons!
In your presence, trembling a little with emotion
and at the same time with humble resolution of purpose,
we announce the idea of proposing a twofold celebration:

a diocesan synod for the City of Rome
and an ecumenical council for the universal Church."

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(Part Two) A BIG SURPRISE...?

2009-10-09T07:50:00.005-05:00

The Cardinals seated around
John XXIII on the day of the announcement
were shocked into silence...

Angelo Cardinal Roncalli had been elected
in 1958 as a "caretaker Pope" ...
after the long reign of Pope Pacelli
(Pius XII) from 1939-1958,
he was to be a "transitional Pope" ...
and said so himself:
The Tablet reported his own words in November 1958:
" We do not have the right to see a long way ahead of us."

So from where did this idea for convening a Council come?

The Pope called it "a divine inspiration."

But... the Holy Spirit works through human persons --
through their experiences, their backgrounds, their abilities:

While a young priest, Father Angelo Roncalli
had been secretary to the bishop of Bergamo (1904-14);
he began writing scholarly works,
among them a five-volume life of St. Charles Borromeo,
the great counter-reformationist of the Council of Trent.

Surely John XXII had St. Charles Borromeo
and the Council of Trent in mind!

For John XXIII had not been a papal curialist;
he had lived in the world as a military chaplain,
as one of the Pope's diplomats
(especially during the difficulties of World War II),
and as a Pastor -- the Patriarch of Venice.

Any observer of John XXIII during his early days as Pope
would recognize that John did not have the experience
to "reform the curia".
Instead, like Borromeo and Trent,
he would reform the Church!

He had spoken about it with a handful of people
before he made the announcement:
but it nevertheless came as such a surprise that
on the next day, the Pope's own newspaper,
L'Osservatore Romano,
carried no mention of the call for a new Council !

And even many of the Church's most important leaders
were taken by (a sometimes not-too-happy) surprise.

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(Part One) 50 YEARS AGO ... THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE COUNCIL

2009-10-07T21:19:00.003-05:00

First, I ask you to picture this:

Set the scene to January 25, 1959.
Pope John XXIII stepped into his black Cadillac
and was driven through Rome
to the Basilica di San Paolo fuori le Mura –
the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls.

There good Pope John announced the calling of a Council for the whole Church.

Amazingly, John had been Pope for less than one hundred days!

With seventeen curial Cardinals,
he had first gathered for prayer in the Pauline Basilica,
and then, in the Benedictines’ Chapter Room,
they were seated around John for an allocution from the Pope.

Trembling with emotion (Pope John later said) but quite resolutely,
he announced a general Council for the universal church.

And there was …

silence.

The pope said that he had expected the Cardinals
to run to him with excitement and enthusiasm,
but …

there was silence.

Good Pope John later remarked, with no little humor,
that the silent immediate reaction of his audience of Cardinals
must have been due to “a joy too surprised for words.”

(A council had been considered three decades before by Pius XI …
and again by Pius XII in the early 1950’s…
Many do not know about these abandoned ideas for a Council:
the preliminary notes and files of Pius XI and Pius XII
are in the Vatican Archives.)

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