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4 - Vatican II and Its Legacy

from Part I - The Pope within the Church

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2025

By
Gilles Routhier
Edited by
Joëlle Rollo-Koster ,
Robert A. Ventresca ,
Melodie H. Eichbauer  and
Miles Pattenden
Joëlle Rollo-Koster
Affiliation:
University of Rhode Island
Robert A. Ventresca
Affiliation:
King’s University College at Western University
Melodie H. Eichbauer
Affiliation:
Florida Gulf Coast University
Miles Pattenden
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
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Summary

After the First Vatican Council, some believed that a council was not necessary any more: the Pope alone was able to govern the Catholic Church. John XXIII’s decision to convene a council was surprising in this context. Considered by some as an extension of Vatican I, which originally was to produce a whole teaching on the Church in which the pope was to be situated, the Second Vatican Council teaching situates the pope in the people of God and within the College of Bishops, proclaiming the doctrine of collegiality. The two popes of the council were going to modify the figure and the style of the papacy. John XXIII, by developing fraternal ties with the non-Catholic Christians invited to the council and who came in large numbers; Paul VI gave worldwide influence to the papacy through his travels to Jerusalem, India, and to the United Nations headquarters in New York, establishing relationships with non-Christians.

Keywords

collegialityinfallibilityPope John XXIIIPope Paul VIVatican II council
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of the Papacy , pp. 109 - 128
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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