Chenu was a French Dominican friar, a renowned historian, and a theologian with extraordinary creative insight. He shaped the Dominican study center, Le Saulchoir, as its director and as an influential professor from the late 1920s until he was removed by the Vatican in 1942 (for writing a theological program for the school that sounded much like the future Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World). He influenced two generations of scholars with his rare combination of scientific excellence and pastoral wisdom. Fifty years after Vatican II, historians are still discovering documents and letters that offer important insights into the Council's meaning. This brief journal written by Marie-Dominique Chenu, masterfully edited by Alberto Melloni, is such a document. It reveals the decisive role Chenu played in several initiatives that shaped the Council's character; but, more importantly, it brings to light the dynamic networking of bishops and theologians that lay behind the Council's achievement of so much in so few years. Covering the years 1962-1963, Chenu's Notebook allows readers to feel the drama of the Council's opening period. At the Council, he promoted and drafted its great Message to the World that was the Council's first published statement. In it, many of Chenu's key intuitions became part of an official church statement about its hope for the future: attention to the 'signs of the times', the integration of science and technology into the Church's pastoral message, and commitment to justice and the care of the poor. His Vatican II Notebook is an exciting peek into great moments in a great man's life.

Yves Congar was a theological advisor to the preparatory commission for Vatican II, and attended all sessions of the Council (1962-1965) as a theological expert. His daily journal provides a window into the Council's workings and into the development of what would become a series of historical documents and declarations. Theologian Yves Congar op, silenced and exiled in 1955, was in 1960 made a theological advisor to the preparatory commission for Vatican II. From then on, and all through the Council (1962-1965), he was an influential day-to-day participant in its work. His diary provides a window into the Council's workings and the development of what would become a series of historical documents and declarations. It also offers Congar's own down-to-earth and candid perspective on many of the remarkable people and events that shaped the Council.

The New York Times–bestselling inside look at one of the world’s most powerful and mysterious institutions For more than twenty-five years, John Thavis held one of the most remarkable journalistic assignments in the world: reporting on the inner workings of the Vatican. In The Vatican Diaries, Thavis reveals Vatican City as a place struggling to define itself in the face of internal and external threats, where Curia cardinals fight private wars and sexual abuse scandals threaten to undermine papal authority. Thavis (author of The Vatican Prophecies: Investigating Supernatural Signs, Apparitions, and Miracles in the Modern Age) also takes readers through the politicking behind the election of Pope Francis and what we might expect from his papacy. The Vatican Diaries is a perceptive, compelling, and provocative account of this singular institution and will be of interest to anyone intrigued by the challenges faced by religion in an increasingly secularized world.

The most respected translation of the Vatican II documents is available on CD-ROM. This edition contains the 16 original constitutions and decrees and 49 documents issued after the close of the Council.

Introductory Essay by Pope Benedict XVI This collection includes the four constitutions of the Second Vatican Council, the most popular and key documents for understanding the Council itself, its decrees, and its declarations. Few events in the history of the modern Catholic Church have been as far-reaching as the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). And few have been as controversial. No one denies great changes have come about since the close of the Council. Have the changes been all good, all bad, or a mixture of both? To what extent were the changes, for good or ill, the result of the Council itself? Some have criticized the Council for not going far enough, though they maintain that the "spirit of Vatican II" supports their rejection of many firmly established Catholic beliefs and practices. Others claim the Council went too far and abandoned certain fundamental Catholic tenets in the name of "updating" the Church. The popes of the Council-John XXII and Paul VI-and their successors who also participated in the Council -John Paul I, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI-have insisted that the Council itself was the work of the Holy Spirit. They have aggressively criticized misinterpretations and distortions of it. They insist that the Council be understood in fundamental continuity with the Church's Tradition, even while deepening the Church's self-understanding and calling for authentic reforms and renewal of Catholic life. Readers can learn for themselves what the Second Vatican Council taught using this highly accessible collection of its basic texts. This book uses the Catholic Truth Society translation and features: The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, introduced by Cardinal Francis Arinze.The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, introduced by Cardinal Paul Poupard.The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, introduced by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, OFM, Cap.The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, introduced by Cardinal Angelo Scola. Four major aspects of the Church's life-the Sacred Liturgy, the mystery of the Church herself, the Word of God, and the Church in the world as it is today-are explored. No twenty-first-century Catholic should be without these four foundational texts in this superb translation. The collection also includes a general introduction by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, as well as an address given by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in 2005, explaining how best to understand the Second Vatican Council in the history of the Church.

This Companion provides an accessible guide for those seeking to comprehend the significance of Vatican II for Catholicism today. It offers a thorough overview of the Second Vatican Council, the most significant event in the history of Roman Catholicism since the Protestant Reformation. Almost six decades since the close of the council, its teaching remains what one pope referred to as a 'sure compass' for guiding today's church. The first part of the Companion examines the historical, theological, and ecclesial contexts for comprehending the significance of the council. It also presents the key processes, as well as the participants who were central to the actual conduct of the council. The second part identifies and explores the central themes embedded in the council documents. The Companion concludes with a unique appendix intended to guide students wishing to pursue more advanced research in Vatican II studies.

2020 Catholic Press Association first place award, theology--theological and philosophical studies This book is unique in the literature about Vatican II. From the manifold issues debated at the council and formulated in its sixteen documents, Ormond Rush proposes that the salient features of “the vision of Vatican II” can be captured in twenty-four principles. He concludes by proposing that these principles can function as criteria for assessing the reception of the conciliar vision over the last five decades and into the future. There is no other book that attempts such a comprehensive synthesis of the council’s vision for renewal and reform of the Catholic Church.