by Mary Cullen

The Council that changed the Church: Vatican II 1962-2022. Open House contributors reflect on aspects of the Council.

In Pope John XXIII’s opening address to the Second Vatican Council on 11th October 1962, he set out his vision for the Church. He wanted to present its teaching to ‘all the people of our age’ and spoke of a ‘new order of human relationships’. The Church’s task was not to repeat at length what had been handed on from the past – that, he pointed out, would not have required the calling of a Council. What was needed instead was that its teaching be ‘investigated and presented in the way demanded by our times’.

Dr Mary Cullen is editor of Open House. Her doctoral thesis explored the ecclesial relationship between priests and lay people in the Catholic Church.