VATICAN CITY — On the night of Oct. 11, 1962, Pope John XXIII did something so natural that it’s astonishing it was so revolutionary at the time. He came to the window of the Vatican’s ...

Pope John XXIII, born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, was the 261st Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, serving from 1958 until his death in 1963. He is best known for convening the Second Vatican ...

Pope John XXIII prays in Loreto, Italy, on Oct. 4, 1962, ahead of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. (photo: Courtesy of the Press Office of the Sanctuary of Loreto) Father Joseph Thomas ...

Pope St. John XXIII’s opening address, ‘Gaudet Mater Ecclesia,’ remains one of the best ways to understand the importance of the Second Vatican Council as a whole. Pope John XXIII arrives at ...

Here are some quotes from John XXIII’s opening speech to the Second Vatican Council, delivered 60 years ago today. (Note that the Pope, as was the custom of the day, refers to himself using the ...

When Pope St. John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council on Oct. 11, 1962, he expressed a confident trust that, “in the light of this Council,” the Church would gain in spiritual riches ...

Minutes before the Pope’s words, the press office of the Vatican had issued a radio announcement informing the world of John XXIII’s historic announcement, unaware of a delay in the Mass at St ...

The council, comprising all the Catholic bishops of the world and called by Pope John XXIII, began October 11, 1962, and closed December 8, 1965, by which time Pope Paul VI had succeeded John.

Unlike his five immediate predecessors—John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II and Benedict XVI—Pope Francis did not attend Vatican II (1962-65); but from the beginning of his ...

Here are some quotes from John XXIII’s opening speech to the Second Vatican Council, delivered 60 years ago today. (Note that the pope, as was the custom of the day, refers to himself using the ...