A leading Catholic intellectual explains why the teachings of the Second Vatican Council are essential to the Church's future—and the world's The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) was the most important Catholic event in the past five hundred years. Yet sixty years after its opening on October 11, 1962, its meaning remains sharply contested and its promise unfulfilled. In To Sanctify the World, George Weigel explains the necessity of Vatican II and explores the continuing relevance of its teaching in a world seeking a deeper experience of freedom than personal willfulness. The Council’s texts are also a critical resource for the Catholic Church as it lives out its original, Christ-centered evangelical purpose. Written with insight and verve, To Sanctify the World recovers the true meaning of Vatican II as the template for a Catholicism that can propose a path toward genuine human dignity and social solidarity.

Professor Echeverria does a thorough job of drawing from the pre-papal writings of Jorge Mario Bergoglio and the man's current papal writings, talks, and sermons to discover and document the continuity in thought Francis has with the councils.Echeverria compares Francis's discourse with that of his papal predecessors in the era since Vatican II. He draws heavily on the documents of Vatican II and the theology of doctrinal development stemming from the First Vatican Council and embraced by Vatican II. Not left out is the modern ecumenical movement from both the Reformed and Catholic side.

Vatican II created an experimental space to be employed by a variety of different domains. The council led, in addition, to a new understanding of the church, namely that of a church in the service of the world.

History The death of John Paul II and the election of Benedict XVI constituted two important elements in the landscape of Catholicism, nourishing the journalistic and political dispute about the history and legacy of Vatican II. This book offers an attempt to go beyond "the clash of interpretations"-Vatican II as a rupture in the history of Catholicism on one side, and the need to read Vatican II in continuity with the tradition on the other-necessary indeed because the ongoing debate about Vatican II is largely misrepresented by the use of "clashing interpretations" as a tool for understanding the role of the council in present-day Catholicism. Book jacket.

The Second Vatican Council was the most important event in the Roman Catholic Church in the twentieth century. In line with Pope John XXIII's desire for aggiornamento it searched for ways to enable the Church to meet the challenges of the times and thus prepare a future for Christian faith and life. This search for renewal met with opposition during the Council and its reception process up to the current day. In this volume authors known for their research on and familiarity with the Council's history and its reception reflect on the (non-)reception of Vatican II in the Roman Catholic Church. Paying attention to both the wishes of the majority of the Council fathers and the often blocked implementation of their decisions during the post-Vatican II period, they make clear that the freedom of speech that existed during the Council soon was put aside, partly because those who where opposed to the conciliar developments remained in charge after the Council. At the same time, the contributors to this volume are of the opinion that Vatican II and its texts continue to offer much inspiration for the life of the faithful today. According to Leo Declerck, Etienne Fouilloux, Peter Hünermann, Joseph Komonchak, Mathijs Lamberigts, Nicholas Lash, Gilles Routhier, and Christoph Theobald, "Gaudium et spes" thus continue to prevail over grief and anxiety, too often used as instruments for a 'revision' of Vatican II. This book offers both keen insights into the history of the Council and its intuitions, and the contested but still needed implementation of it.

It is only in the years since Vatican II that the new thinking about Catholic education has crystalised into shape. Vatican II and New Thinking about Catholic Education provides an opportune moment to take stock of the impact of Vatican II on Catholic education. This volume considers the various ways in which Vatican II and its teaching on education has been received and engages with the challenges and testing times that beset faith-based education in the twenty-first century. With insights from an international range of leading and influential advocates of Catholic education, the volume demonstrates the differing contexts of Catholic education and explores the ways in which Vatican II’s teaching on education has been received over the past four or five decades.