Nine decrees:
94-573: The Central Preparatory Commission was the body that co-ordinated the preparation of the schemas for the Second Vatican Council . It was established by Pope John XXIII on June 5, 1960. It had 120 members, including cardinals and bishops , amongst them was Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini (the future Pope Paul VI), Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre , and Cardinal Ottaviani who chaired the Commission. It had been expected that
188-550: A century earlier there were 737 Council Fathers, mostly from Europe ). At Vatican II, some 250 bishops were native-born Asians and Africans, whereas at Vatican I, there were none at all. General Congregations (§3, 20, 33, 38–39, 52–63). The Council Fathers met in daily sittings – known as General Congregations – to discuss the schemas and vote on them. These sittings took place in St. Peter's Basilica every morning until 12:30 Monday to Saturday (except Thursday). The average daily attendance
282-554: A consequence, governments established controls over printers across Europe, requiring them to have official licenses to trade and produce books. The early versions of prohibition indexes began to appear from 1529 to 1571. In the same time frame, in 1557 the English crown aimed to stem the flow of dissent by chartering the Stationers' Company . The right to print was restricted to the two universities (Oxford and Cambridge) and to
376-435: A few days to allow each national group of bishops to meet and draw up a list of its own members who might be suitable candidates. Cardinal Frings , the senior German bishop, rose to second the motion. There was loud applause and the motion was declared carried. That day's sitting was adjourned after only 15 minutes. For the next few days, Council Fathers met in national groups and drew up lists of candidates. The bishops from
470-451: A judgment and, if that person gives the nihil obstat ('nothing forbids'), the local ordinary grants the imprimatur ('let it be printed'). Members of religious institutes require the imprimi potest ('it can be printed') of their major superior to publish books on matters of religion or morals. The Index was not simply a reactive work. Roman Catholic authors had the opportunity to defend their writings and could prepare
564-666: A list of books that were allowed once the forbidden part (sometimes a single sentence) was removed or "expurgated". On 14 June 1966, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith responded to inquiries it had received regarding the continued moral obligation concerning books that had been listed in the Index. The response spoke of the books as examples of books dangerous to faith and morals, all of which, not just those once included in
658-407: A list of the bishops who had served on the preparatory commissions, as if to suggest that they elect the same people to the conciliar commissions, with the result that Curial forces would dominate the conciliar commissions as they had dominated the preparatory commissions. As the voting was about to begin, Cardinal Liénart , the senior French bishop, rose and proposed that the election be delayed for
752-643: A modern reader would consider outside the realm of dogma meant that, unless they obtained a dispensation , obedient Catholic thinkers were denied access to works including: botanist Conrad Gesner 's Historiae animalium ; the botanical works of Otto Brunfels ; those of the medical scholar Janus Cornarius ; to Christoph Hegendorff or Johann Oldendorp on the theory of law; Protestant geographers and cosmographers like Jacob Ziegler or Sebastian Münster ; as well as anything by Protestant theologians like Martin Luther , John Calvin or Philipp Melanchthon . Among
846-405: A modest decentralization of liturgical authority to national episcopal conferences. The conservatives objected to all these proposals, especially to the downgrading of Latin. Debate dragged on for 15 days, before the vote was taken on whether the schema was acceptable in principle. To everyone's surprise, only 46 (out of 2,215) voted against. A second win for renewal. The schema was now returned to
940-544: A new edition with necessary corrections or deletions, either to avoid or to limit a ban . Pre-publication censorship was encouraged. The Index was enforceable within the Papal States , but elsewhere only if adopted by the civil powers, as happened in several Italian states. Other areas adopted their own lists of forbidden books. In the Holy Roman Empire book censorship, which preceded the publication of
1034-534: A number of schemas were consolidated and merged, with the result that the total number of schemas was whittled down from 70 to 22. Paragraph numbers in this section refer to the Council Regulations published in the motu proprio Appropinquante concilio , of 6 August 1962. Council Fathers (§1). All the bishops of the world, as well as the heads of the main religious orders of men, were entitled to be "Council Fathers", that is, full participants with
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#17327653057411128-538: A platform from which they could work to further their views. Private Periti (§11). Each bishop was allowed to bring along a personal theological adviser of his choice. Known as "private periti ", they were not official Council participants and could not attend General Congregations or commission meetings. But like the official periti , they gave informal talks to groups of bishops, bringing them up to date on developments in their particular area of expertise. Karl Rahner , Joseph Ratzinger and Hans Küng first went to
1222-426: A two-thirds majority. For each schema, after a preliminary discussion there was a vote whether it was considered acceptable in principle, or rejected. If acceptable, debate continued with votes on individual chapters and paragraphs. Bishops could submit amendments, which were then written into the schema if they were requested by many bishops. Votes continued in this way until wide agreement was reached, after which there
1316-442: A year, the congregation held meetings. During the meetings, they reviewed various works and documented those discussions. In between the meetings was when the works to be discussed were thoroughly examined, and each work was scrutinized by two people. At the meetings, they collectively decided whether or not the works should be included in the Index. Ultimately, the pope was the one who had to approve of works being added or removed from
1410-633: Is one thing; the manner in which these truths are set forth (with their meaning preserved intact) is something else. The first working session of the council was on 13 October 1962. That day's agenda included the election of members of the 10 conciliar commissions. Each was to have 16 members elected by the Council Fathers and 8 – later 9 – members appointed by the Pope. Most bishops knew very few bishops other than those from their own country, and so did not know whom to vote for. They had been provided with
1504-715: The Index Leonianus . Subsequent editions of the Index were more sophisticated; they graded authors according to their supposed degree of toxicity, and they marked specific passages for expurgation rather than condemning entire books. The Sacred Congregation of the Inquisition of the Roman Catholic Church later became the Holy Office , and since 1965 has been called the Congregation for
1598-582: The Henri de Lubac SJ and Yves Congar OP , who were unable to teach or publish until the death of Pius XII in 1958. By the early 1960s, other theologians under suspicion included Karl Rahner SJ and the young Hans Küng . In addition, there was the unfinished business of the First Vatican Council (1869–70). When it had been cut short by the Italian Army's entry into Rome at
1692-634: The Index , came under the control of the Jesuits at the end of the 16th century, but had little effect, since the German princes within the empire set up their own systems. In France it was French officials who decided what books were banned and the Church's Index was not recognized. Spain had its own Index Librorum Prohibitorum et Expurgatorum , which corresponded largely to the Church's, but also included
1786-504: The World Council of Churches were represented. The observers were entitled to sit in on all general assemblies (but not the commissions) and they mingled with the Council Fathers during the breaks and let them know their reactions to speeches or to schemas. Pope Paul VI welcomed their participation "with gratitude and respect". Their presence helped to break down centuries of mistrust. Lay auditors . While not provided for in
1880-446: The printing press by Johannes Gutenberg c. 1440 changed the nature of book publishing, and the mechanism by which information could be disseminated to the public. Books, once rare and kept carefully in a small number of libraries, could be mass-produced and widely disseminated. In the 16th century, both the churches and governments in most European countries attempted to regulate and control printing because it allowed for
1974-699: The "antepreparatory period". On 17 May 1959, Pope John appointed an Antepreparatory Commission to conduct a vast consultation of the Catholic world concerning topics to be examined at the council. Three groups of people were consulted: the bishops of the world, the Catholic universities and faculties of theology, and the departments of the Curia. By the following summer, 2,049 individuals and institutions had replied with 9,438 individual vota ("wishes"). Some were typical of past ways of doing things, asking for new dogmatic definitions or condemnations of errors. Others were in
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#17327653057412068-447: The "prophets of doom who are always forecasting disaster" for the church or world. He spoke of the advantage of separation of Church and state but also the challenge to integrate faith with public life. What is needed at the present time is a new enthusiasm, a new joy and serenity of mind in the unreserved acceptance by all of the entire Christian faith, without forfeiting that accuracy and precision in its presentation which characterized
2162-574: The 1670s. The Copyright Act 1710 in Britain, and later copyright laws in France, eased this situation. Historian Eckhard Höffner claims that copyright laws and their restrictions acted as a barrier to progress in those countries for over a century, since British publishers could print valuable knowledge in limited quantities for the sake of profit. The German economy prospered in the same time frame since there were no restrictions. The first list of
2256-453: The 21 existing printers in the city of London , which had between them 53 printing presses . The French crown also tightly controlled printing, and the printer and writer Étienne Dolet was burned at the stake for atheism in 1546. The 1551 Edict of Châteaubriant comprehensively summarized censorship positions to date, and included provisions for unpacking and inspecting all books brought into France. The 1557 Edict of Compiègne applied
2350-536: The 5 European countries (France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria) that spearheaded the renewal movement decided to create a single list, to which a number of renewal-minded bishops from other countries were added, for a total of 109 names. The election took place on October 16. It brought in new blood: 79 of these 109 were elected to a commission seat and 50% of the members of the very important doctrinal commission were among these 79. In addition 43% of
2444-671: The Benedictine monastery attached to the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome came as a surprise to the cardinals present. He had tested the idea only ten days before with one of them, his Cardinal Secretary of State Domenico Tardini , who gave enthusiastic support to the idea. Although the pope later said the idea came to him in a flash in his conversation with Tardini, two cardinals had earlier attempted to interest him in
2538-604: The Bible and the Church Fathers . Some theologians also began to discuss new topics, such as the historical dimension of theology, the theology of work, ecumenism, the theology of the laity and the theology of "earthly realities". These writings, whose new style came to be called la nouvelle théologie ('the new theology'), attracted Rome's attention, and in 1950 Pius XII published Humani generis , an encyclical "concerning some false opinions threatening to undermine
2632-425: The Bible, to read it, to make it a source of their spiritual life. This found a response in very limited circles. By 1960, the movement was still in its infancy. By the 1930s, mainstream theology based on neo-scholasticism and papal encyclicals was being rejected by some theologians as dry and uninspiring. Thus was born the movement called ressourcement , the return to the sources: basing theology directly on
2726-819: The Catholic Church. The council met in Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and 12 weeks, in the autumn of each of the four years 1962 to 1965, although it had been anticipated initially that the work of the Council would have been complete after three sessions. Pope John XXIII called the council because he felt the Church needed "updating" (in Italian: aggiornamento ). In order to better connect with people in an increasingly secularized world, some of
2820-423: The Church's practices needed to be improved and presented in a more understandable and relevant way. Support for aggiornamento won out over resistance to change, and as a result the sixteen magisterial documents produced by the council proposed significant developments in doctrine and practice, notably The council had a significant impact on the Church due to the scope and variety of issues it addressed. Some of
2914-647: The Council Prominent Reform-minded Bishops at the Council Prominent reform-minded theologians at the Council John XXIII opened the council on 11 October 1962 in a public session at St. Peter's Basilica and delivered his opening address Gaudet Mater Ecclesia ("Mother Church Rejoices") before the Council Fathers and representatives of 86 governments or international groups. He criticized
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3008-586: The Doctrinal Commission (representing the conservative tendency) and the Secretariat for Christian Unity (representing the renewal tendency). A third victory for renewal and a crucial turning point at the council. This innocuous schema could be boiled down to two propositions that had been said many times before: the Church must use the media to further its mission, and people must be protected against immorality and other dangers presented by
3102-462: The Doctrine of the Faith . The Congregation of the Index was merged with the Holy Office in 1917, by the motu proprio Alloquentes Proxime of Pope Benedict XV; the rules on the reading of books were again re-elaborated in the new Codex Iuris Canonici . From 1917 onward, the Holy Office (again) took care of the Index. While individual books continued to be forbidden, the last edition of
3196-620: The Holy Office decided that it should not go on the Index because the author was a head of state. The Holy Office justified that decision by referring to chapter 13 of Paul the Apostle 's Epistle to the Romans regarding state authority coming from God. However, somewhat later, the Vatican criticized Mein Kampf in the encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge (March 1937) about the challenges of
3290-558: The Holy Office) were simply passed on to the Congregation of the Index, where the final decrees were drafted and made public, after approval of the Pope (who always had the possibility to condemn an author personally—there are only a few examples of such condemnation, including those of Lamennais and Hermes ). An update to the Index was made by Pope Leo XIII , in the 1897 apostolic constitution Officiorum ac Munerum , known as
3384-466: The Index stated that the prohibition of someone's opera omnia did not preclude works that were not concerned with religion and were not forbidden by the general rules of the Index. This explanation was omitted in the 1929 edition, which was officially interpreted in 1940 as meaning that opera omnia covered all the author's works without exception. Cardinal Ottaviani stated in April 1966 that there
3478-496: The Index to be published appeared in 1948. This 20th edition contained 4,000 titles censored for various reasons: heresy , moral deficiency, sexual explicitness, and so on. That some atheists , such as Schopenhauer and Nietzsche , were not included was due to the general ( Tridentine ) rule that heretical works (i.e., works that contradict Catholic dogma) are ipso facto forbidden. Some important works are absent simply because nobody bothered to denounce them. Many actions of
3572-448: The Index, should be avoided regardless of the absence of any written law against them. The Index, it said, retains its moral force "inasmuch as" ( quatenus ) it teaches the conscience of Christians to beware, as required by the natural law itself, of writings that can endanger faith and morals, but it (the Index of Forbidden Books) no longer has the force of ecclesiastical law with the associated censures. The congregation thus placed on
3666-595: The Index. It was the documentation from the meetings of the congregation that aided the pope in making his decision. This sometimes resulted in very long lists of corrections, published in the Index Expurgatorius , which was cited by Thomas James in 1627 as "an invaluable reference work to be used by the curators of the Bodleian Library when listing those works particularly worthy of collecting". Prohibitions made by other congregations (mostly
3760-572: The Official Regulations, a small number of lay people were invited to attend as "auditors" beginning with the Second Session. While not allowed to take part in debate, a few of them were asked to address the council about their concerns as lay people. The first auditors were all male, but beginning with the third session, a number of women were also appointed. In the very first weeks of the council proceedings, it became clear to
3854-420: The Pope could be convinced to forget about aggiornamento . On the other side were those theologians and bishops who had been working towards a new way of doing things, some of whom had been silenced and humiliated by the Curia in the 1940s and 1950s. For them, the council came as a "divine surprise", the opportunity to convince the bishops of the world to turn away from a fortress-like defensive attitude to
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3948-486: The Pope's announcement of a Council, they realized that it could be the culmination of the Church's program of resistance to Protestantism , the Enlightenment and all the other perceived errors of the modern world. It was also seen as an opportunity to give the stamp of conciliar infallibility to the teachings of the most recent popes and to the Curia's vision of the role of the Church in the modern world, provided
4042-667: The beginning of the council, there were 224 official periti, but their number would eventually rise to 480. They could attend the debates in the General Congregations, but could not speak. The theologians who had been silenced during the 1940s and 1950s, such as Yves Congar and Henri de Lubac, and some theologians who were under suspicion in Roman circles at the beginning of the 1960s, such as Karl Rahner and Hans Küng, were appointed periti because of their expertise. Their appointment served to vindicate their ideas and gave them
4136-459: The book The Poem of the Man-God , Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (then Prefect of the Congregation, who later became Pope Benedict XVI ), referred to the 1966 notification of the Congregation as follows: "After the dissolution of the Index, when some people thought the printing and distribution of the work was permitted, people were reminded again in L'Osservatore Romano (15 June 1966) that, as
4230-421: The centuries. Writings by Antonio Rosmini-Serbati were placed on the Index in 1849 but were removed by 1855, and Pope John Paul II mentioned Rosmini's work as a significant example of "a process of philosophical enquiry which was enriched by engaging the data of faith". The 1758 edition of the Index removed the general prohibition of works advocating heliocentrism as a fact rather than a hypothesis. Some of
4324-546: The church in Nazi Germany. On 7 December 1965, Pope Paul VI issued the motu proprio Integrae servandae that reorganized the Holy Office as the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith . The Index was not listed as being a part of the newly constituted congregation's competence, leading to questioning whether it still was. This question was put to Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani , pro-prefect of
4418-436: The congregation, who responded in the negative. The Cardinal also indicated in his response that there was going to be a change in the Index soon. A June 1966 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith notification announced that, while the Index maintained its moral force, in that it taught Christians to beware, as required by the natural law itself, of those writings that could endanger faith and morality, it no longer had
4512-777: The congregations were of a definite political content. Among the denounced works of the period was the Nazi philosopher Alfred Rosenberg 's Myth of the Twentieth Century for scorning and rejecting "all dogmas of the Catholic Church, and the fundamentals of the Christian religion". Markedly absent from the Index was Adolf Hitler's book Mein Kampf . After gaining access to the Vatican Apostolic Archive church historian Hubert Wolf discovered that Mein Kampf had been studied for three years but
4606-452: The conscience of the individual Christian the responsibility to avoid all writings dangerous to faith and morals, while at the same time abolishing the previously existing ecclesiastical law and the relative censures, without thereby declaring that the books that had once been listed in the various editions of the Index of Prohibited Books had become free of error and danger. In a letter of 31 January 1985 to Cardinal Giuseppe Siri , regarding
4700-410: The council as some bishop's personal theologian, and were later appointed official periti . Some notable theologians, such as Edward Schillebeeckx , remained private periti for the whole duration of the council. Observers (§18) . An important innovation was the invitation by Pope John to Orthodox and Protestant Churches to send observers to the council. Eventually 21 denominations or bodies such as
4794-536: The death penalty to heretics and resulted in the burning of a noblewoman at the stake. Printers were viewed as radical and rebellious, with 800 authors, printers and book dealers being incarcerated in the Bastille . At times, the prohibitions of church and state followed each other, e.g. René Descartes was placed on the Index in the 1660s and the French government prohibited the teaching of Cartesianism in schools in
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#17327653057414888-485: The end of Italian unification , the only topics that had been completed were the theology of the papacy and the relationship of faith and reason , while the theology of the episcopate and of the laity were left unaddressed. The role of the Second Vatican Council in continuing and completing the work of the first was noted by Pope Paul VI in his encyclical letter Ecclesiam Suam (1964). At
4982-461: The force of ecclesiastical positive law with the associated penalties. The canon law of the Latin Church still recommends that works should be submitted to the judgment of the local ordinary (typically, the bishop) if they concern sacred scripture , theology , canon law, or church history , religion or morals. The local ordinary consults someone whom he considers competent to give
5076-447: The foundations of Catholic doctrine". Without citing specific individuals, he criticized those who advocated new schools of theology. It was generally understood that the encyclical was directly against the nouvelle théologie as well as developments in ecumenism and Bible studies. Some of these works were placed on the Index of Prohibited Books , and some of the authors were forbidden to teach or to publish. Those who suffered most were
5170-444: The idea. They were two of the most conservative, Ernesto Ruffini and Alfredo Ottaviani , who had already in 1948 proposed the idea to Pius XII and who put it before John XXIII on 27 October 1958. Over the course of the next 3 years, the Pope would make many statements describing the results he expected from the council. They formed something like 3 concentric circles: Two less solemn statements are attributed to John XXIII about
5264-530: The inclusions was the Libri Carolini , a theological work from the 9th-century court of Charlemagne , which was published in 1549 by Bishop Jean du Tillet and which had already been on two other lists of prohibited books before being inserted into the Tridentine Index. Former dicasteries In 1571, a special congregation was created, the Sacred Congregation of the Index , which had
5358-472: The index of banned books in Venice was suppressed or suspended because various people took a stand against it. The first Roman Index was printed in 1557 under the direction of Pope Paul IV (1555–1559), but then withdrawn for unclear reasons. In 1559, a new index was finally published, banning the entire works of some 550 authors in addition to the individual proscribed titles: "The Pauline Index felt that
5452-693: The kind was not published in Rome , but in Catholic Netherlands (1529); Venice (1543) and Paris (1551) under the terms of the Edict of Châteaubriant followed this example. By the mid-century, in the tense atmosphere of wars of religion in Germany and France, both Protestant and Catholic authorities reasoned that only control of the press, including a catalogue of prohibited works, coordinated by ecclesiastic and governmental authorities, could prevent
5546-543: The list was Magdalena Haymairus in 1569, who was listed for her children's book Die sontegliche Episteln über das gantze Jar in gesangsweis gestellt ( Sunday Epistles on the whole Year, put into hymns ). Other women include Anne Askew , Olympia Fulvia Morata , Ursula of Munsterberg (1491–1534), Veronica Franco , and Paola Antonia Negri (1508–1555). Contrary to a popular misconception, Charles Darwin 's works were never included. In many cases, an author's opera omnia (complete works) were forbidden. However,
5640-621: The liturgy commission to deal with many proposed amendments. This schema from the preparatory theological commission took the conservative position on all questions currently being discussed by theologians. Reformers were particularly opposed to two claims: that there were revealed truths in Tradition that were not contained in Scripture and that every assertion in the Bible was free of error. The debate lasted six days. The dramatic vote on acceptance in principle came on November 20. The question
5734-474: The media. There was little interest in pursuing the discussion. On November 27, the council decided the schema should contain only essential principles, leaving detailed practical matters to be dealt with after the council. The schema was accepted in principle and returned to its commission to be abridged. Index of Prohibited Books Artists Clergy Monarchs Popes The Index Librorum Prohibitorum (English: Index of Forbidden Books )
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#17327653057415828-508: The members of the preparatory commissions, where the Roman Curia was heavily represented, would be confirmed as the majorities on the conciliar commissions. Senior French Cardinal Achille Liénart addressed the council, saying that the bishops could not intelligently vote for strangers. He asked that the vote be postponed to give all the bishops a chance to draw up their own lists. German Cardinal Josef Frings seconded that proposal, and
5922-408: The modern world and set off in a new direction towards a renewed theology of the Church and of the laity, ecumenism and the reform of the liturgy. The council was officially summoned by the apostolic constitution Humanae Salutis on 25 December 1961. Preparation for the council took over three years, from the summer of 1959 to the autumn of 1962. The first year was known officially as
6016-454: The most notable changes were in performance of the Mass, including that vernacular languages could be authorized as well as Latin. Pope Pius XII's 1943 encyclical Divino afflante Spiritu gave a renewed impetus to Catholic Bible studies and encouraged the production of new Bible translations from the original languages. This led to a pastoral attempt to get ordinary Catholics to re-discover
6110-508: The newly elected commission members had not been on any preparatory commission. This was a first success for renewal. On 22 October, the first schema to be discussed was the one from the very reform-minded preparatory commission for liturgy. It had 8 chapters: It proposed many reforms, including active participation of the congregation, communal singing, a partial replacement of Latin by vernacular languages, communion under both kinds, concelebration, adaptation of liturgy to local cultures and
6204-516: The participants that there were two "tendencies" among the Council Fathers, those who were supporters of aggiornamento and renewal, and those who were not. The two tendencies had already appeared in the deliberations of the Central Preparatory Commission before the opening of the council. In addition to popes John XXIII and Paul VI , these were the prominent actors at the council: Prominent Conservative Bishops at
6298-414: The preparatory commission for theology, dominated by officials of the Holy Office (the curial department for theological orthodoxy) showed no signs of aggiornamento at all. The two notable exceptions were the preparatory commission for liturgy and the Secretariat for Christian unity, whose schemas were very much in the spirit of renewal. In addition to these specialist commissions and secretariats, there
6392-465: The preparatory period, continued to exist under its president Cardinal Augustin Bea throughout the 4 years of the council, with the same powers as a commission. The commissions were tasked with revising the schemas as Council Fathers submitted amendments. They met in the afternoons or evenings. Procedure was more informal than in the general assemblies: there was spontaneous debate, sometimes heated, and Latin
6486-538: The preparatory period, they were 10 in number, each covering the same area of Church life as a particular curial department and chaired by the cardinal who headed that department: Each commission included 25 Council Fathers (16 elected by the council and 9 appointed by the Pope) as well as consultors (official periti appointed by the pope). In addition, the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity , appointed during
6580-401: The press and television, and the Pope was present. There were 10 public sessions in the course of the council: the opening day of each of the council's four periods, 5 days when the Pope promulgated Council documents, and the final day of the council. Commissions (§5–6, 64–70). Much of the detailed work of the council was done in these commissions. Like the preparatory commissions during
6674-625: The proceedings of the Council of Trent and the First Vatican Council. What is needed, and what everyone imbued with a truly Christian, Catholic and apostolic spirit craves today, is that this doctrine shall be more widely known, more deeply understood, and more penetrating in its effects on men's moral lives. What is needed is that this certain and immutable doctrine, to which the faithful owe obedience, be studied afresh and reformulated in contemporary terms. For this deposit of faith, or truths which are contained in our time-honored teaching
6768-445: The public. Council Fathers were under an obligation not to reveal anything that went on in the daily sittings (§26). Secrecy soon broke down, and much information about the daily General Congregations was leaked to the press. The Pope did not attend General Congregations, but followed the deliberations on closed-circuit television. Public Sessions (§2, 44–51). These were similar to General Congregations, except that they were open to
6862-494: The purpose of the council. One is about opening the windows of the Church to let in some fresh air; the other about shaking off the imperial dust accumulated on the throne of St. Peter. The source for the second statement is Cardinal Léger of Montréal, as reported by Congar. The first statement has been repeated so many times as to be extremely difficult to verify. Once the officials of the Curia had recovered from their shock at
6956-477: The rapid and widespread circulation of ideas and information. The Protestant Reformation generated large quantities of polemical new writing by and within both the Catholic and Protestant camps, and religious subject matter was typically the area most subject to control. While governments and the church encouraged printing in many ways, which allowed the dissemination of Bibles and government information, works of dissent and criticism could also circulate rapidly. As
7050-578: The religious convictions of an author contaminated all his writing." The work of the censors was considered too severe and met with much opposition even in Catholic intellectual circles; after the Council of Trent had authorised a revised list prepared under Pope Pius IV , the so-called Tridentine Index was promulgated in 1564; it remained the basis of all later lists until Pope Leo XIII , in 1897, published his Index Leonianus . The blacklisting of some Protestant scholars even when writing on subjects
7144-513: The right to speak and vote. Their number was about 2,900, though some 500 of them would be unable to attend, either for reasons of health or old age, or because the Communist authorities of their country would not let them travel. The Council Fathers in attendance represented 79 countries: 38% were from Europe, 31% from the Americas, 20% from Asia & Oceania, and 10% from Africa. (At Vatican I
7238-414: The same area of responsibility as one of the main departments of the Curia and was chaired by the cardinal who headed that department. From the 9,438 proposals, a list of topics was created, and these topics were parcelled out to these commissions according to their area of competence. Some commissions prepared a separate schema for each topic they were asked to treat, others a single schema encompassing all
7332-455: The same time, the world's bishops were facing challenges driven by political, social, economic, and technological change. Some of these bishops were seeking new ways of addressing those challenges. John XXIII gave notice of his intention to convene an ecumenical council on 25 January 1959, less than three months after his election in October 1958. His announcement in the chapter hall of
7426-407: The scientific theories contained in works in early editions of the Index have long been taught at Catholic universities . For example, the general prohibition of books advocating heliocentrism was removed from the Index in 1758, but two Franciscan mathematicians had published an edition of Isaac Newton 's Principia Mathematica (1687) in 1742, with commentaries and a preface stating that
7520-459: The specific task to investigate those writings that were denounced in Rome as being not exempt of errors, to update the list of Pope Pius IV regularly and also to make lists of required corrections in case a writing was not to be condemned absolutely but only in need of correction; it was then listed with a mitigating clause (e.g., donec corrigatur ('forbidden until corrected') or donec expurgetur ('forbidden until purged')). Several times
7614-429: The spirit of aggiornamento , asking for reforms and new ways of doing things. The next two years (known officially as the "preparatory period") were occupied with preparing the drafts, called schemas , that would be submitted to the bishops for discussion at the council. On 5 June 1960, ten Preparatory Commissions were created, to which a total of 871 bishops and experts were appointed. Each preparatory commission had
7708-473: The spread of heresy. Paul F. Grendler (1975) discusses the religious and political climate in Venice from 1540 to 1605. There were many attempts to censor the Venetian press, which at that time was one of the largest concentrations of printers. Both church and government held to a belief in censorship, but the publishers continually pushed back on the efforts to ban books and shut down printing. More than once
7802-431: The topics they were handed. These were the preparatory commissions and the number of schemas they prepared: Two secretariats – one the offshoot of an existing Vatican office, the other a new body – also had a part in drafting schemas: The total number of schemas was 70. As most of these preparatory bodies were predominantly conservative, the schemas they produced showed only modest signs of updating. The schemas drafted by
7896-500: The vote was postponed. The very first meeting of the council adjourned after only fifteen minutes. This Catholic Church –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Second Vatican Council Three declarations: The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican , commonly known as the Second Vatican Council or Vatican II , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of
7990-613: The work assumed heliocentrism and could not be explained without it. Noteworthy figures on the Index include Simone de Beauvoir , Nicolas Malebranche , Jean-Paul Sartre , Michel de Montaigne , Voltaire , Denis Diderot , Victor Hugo , Jean-Jacques Rousseau , André Gide , Nikos Kazantzakis , Emanuel Swedenborg , Baruch Spinoza , Desiderius Erasmus , Immanuel Kant , David Hume , René Descartes , Francis Bacon , Thomas Browne , John Milton , John Locke , Nicolaus Copernicus , Niccolò Machiavelli , Galileo Galilei , Blaise Pascal , and Hugo Grotius . The first woman to be placed on
8084-607: The works of Europe's intellectual elites. The Index condemned religious and secular texts alike, grading works by the degree to which they were deemed to be repugnant or dangerous to the church at the time. The aim of the list was to protect church members from reading theologically, culturally, or politically disruptive books. At times such books included works by saints , such as theologian Robert Bellarmine and philosopher Antonio Rosmini-Serbati , astronomers , such as Johannes Kepler 's Epitome astronomiae Copernicanae (published in three volumes from 1618 to 1621), which
8178-400: Was a Central Preparatory Commission , to which all the schemas had to be submitted for final approval. It was a large body of 108 members from 57 countries, including two thirds of the cardinals. As a result of its work, 22 schemas were eliminated from the conciliar agenda, mainly because they could be dealt with during a planned revision of the 1917 Code of Canon Law after the council, and
8272-513: Was a changing list of publications deemed heretical or contrary to morality by the Sacred Congregation of the Index (a former Dicastery of the Roman Curia ); Catholics were forbidden to print or read them, subject to the local bishop. Catholic states could enact laws to adapt or adopt the list and enforce it. The Index was active from 1560 to 1966. It banned thousands of book titles and blacklisted publications, including
8366-579: Was a final vote on a document. This was followed some days later by a public session where the Pope promulgated the document as the official teaching of the council, following another, ceremonial, vote of the Council Fathers. There was an unwritten rule that, in order to be considered official Church teaching, a document had to receive an overwhelming majority of votes, somewhere in the area of 90%. This led to many compromises, as well as formulations that were broad enough to be acceptable by people on either side of an issue. All General Congregations were closed to
8460-421: Was about 2,200. Stands with tiers of seats for all the Council Fathers had been built on both sides of the central nave of St. Peter's. During the first session, a council of presidents, of 10 cardinals, was responsible for presiding over the general assemblies, its members taking turns chairing each day's sitting (§4). During the later sessions, this task belonged to a council of 4 Moderators. All votes required
8554-406: Was not the only language used. Like the General Congregations, they were closed to the public and subject to the same rules of secrecy. Official Periti (§9–10). These experts in theology, canon law and other areas were appointed by the Pope to advise the Council Fathers, and were assigned as consultors to the commissions, where they played an important part in re-writing the council documents. At
8648-528: Was on the Index from 1621 to 1835; works by philosophers , such as Immanuel Kant 's Critique of Pure Reason (1781); and editions and translations of the Bible that had not been approved. Editions of the Index also contained the rules of the Church relating to the reading, selling, and preemptive censorship of books. The historical context in which the Index appeared involved the early restrictions on printing in Europe. The refinement of moveable type and
8742-432: Was phrased in terms of rejection: Should the schema be rejected? Yes: 1,360. No: 822. This was 102 votes short of the two-thirds majority required by Council regulations, and so the council would have to continue discussing a schema that 62% of the participants rejected. Resolution of the impasse came the next day (November 21): Pope John announced the schema would be revised by a special joint commission made up of members of
8836-601: Was published in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis (1966), the Index retains its moral force despite its dissolution. A decision against distributing and recommending a work, which has not been condemned lightly, may be reversed, but only after profound changes that neutralize the harm which such a publication could bring forth among the ordinary faithful." The content of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum saw deletions as well as additions over
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