Many sacred beliefs of our Catholic faith can be traced to the 21 ecumenical councils held since the fourth century.

October 11, 1962, will be remembered as one of the great days of modern church history. For on this day the “Second Vatican Ecumenical Council,” which, in the terminology of Pope John XXIII ...

The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II, was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed under ...

Before John Paul II became pope, he wrote a book, The Sources of Renewal, on the proper understanding of Vatican II.According to him, this question is the key to understanding the Council. Chapter ...

Note: Just last week, anticipating the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, St. James Cathedral, Seattle, unveiled a new statute of Blessed John XXIII reaching out in a gesture of ...

Wicks writes that "by the end of 1962 the council had defined itself as an organ of broad renewal of the Catholic church," and the book essentially explains what that renewal was about and how it ...

The major documents of the Second Vatican Council are an excellent way to grasp the event. Here’s how John Paul II’s Feb. 27, 2000, address summarizes them: ...

The introduction to the Decree on Ecumenism declares plainly that “promoting the restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the chief concerns of the Second Sacred Ecumenical Synod of ...

As the golden anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s opening on Oct. 11, 1962, approaches, men ordained in the years bookending the council predominantly embrace “the spirit of Vatican II ...

Council Fathers attending the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican (1962-1965). Lothar Wolleh / Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0) ...

The Second Vatican Council, which opened 60 years ago on Oct. 11, 1962, was the most important Catholic event in half a millennium. Its achievements were many and notable; it was also followed by ...