Pope John XXIII, born Angelo Guiseppe Roncalli, became head of the Roman Catholic Church in 1958. The following year he announced the convocation which would become known as Vatican II. Sixty years have now passed since the conclusion of the Vatican II summit on December 8, 1965. Just as Moses never lived to enter the promised land (Israel), Pope John XXIII would not live to see the realization of Vatican II, having died in 1963.
But what is the “realization” of Vatican II? Right-wing pundit Pat Buchanan proclaims himself a “pre-Vatican II Catholic.” The problem with Buchanan’s assertion is that Vatican II is the law of the Church. To proclaim being a pre-Vatican II Catholic is, therefore, tantamount to renouncing one’s Catholicism.
Lest my polemic seem partial to one side of the debate, allow me to note that many Catholics on the left who assert their allegiance to Vatican II are prone to distort the purpose of the document. The convocation called by Pope John XXIII and the outcome known as Vatican II are often invoked by liberal Catholics advocating ordination of women into the priesthood, lifting the vow of celibacy for ordained priests, accepting divorce, and liberation theology espousing left-wing terror the world over. Truth be told, no such agenda was envisioned by Pope John XXIII.
Vatican II to most Catholics carries the simple (and rather shallow) meaning of allowing meat on Friday (except during Lent) and Mass conducted in the vernacular (as opposed to the traditional Latin Mass). It’s worth noting that one can still witness and even participate in the Latin Mass at selected churches. But Pope Francis, who died earlier this year, discouraged the Latin Mass absent an actual ban on the rite itself. This was in keeping with Saint Paul, who expressed no objection to Jewish laws such as circumcision but was inclined to discourage such observance.
The most misunderstood passage stated by Vatican II is its stated goal on the last page: To guide man toward a better secular future. This has been taken to mean by Catholics on the left that secularization was (and is) in the spirit of Vatican II. Nothing could be further from the truth, as Pope John XXIII hardly sought a secular church, the very idea being a contradiction in terms.
One must consider the concern(s) of Pope John XXIII, which requires an understanding of the man born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, an important church figure long before his election to the role of Pontiff. He saw the worst of the 20th Century, having saved Jews from the Holocaust and confronting the schism of Catholicism in France following World War II.
As Pope John XXIII, the great Pontiff saw the world in 1959 still plagued by war, totalitarianism, authoritarianism, and poverty. Having been an army chaplain during World War I and rising to the position of Papal Nuncio after World War II, it had dawned on him that World War I was not the war to end all wars (as advertised by global leaders) and that we lived in a world still at odds with the concept of civilization.
Pope John XXIII called together a number of church officials in 1959. He stressed the urgency of the convocation which resulted in Vatican II, as he sensed he was late in life. He asked these officials the by no means rhetorical question: What role must the Roman Catholic Church play in the face of world crisis? And crisis had reached a high point: the Cold War was boiling over, the communist leader Fidel Castro had overthrown the dictator Fulgencio Batista in Cuba that very year, and the Middle East was in the state of a fragile truce which would be shattered within a decade. Where was the Church in relation to these world events? That’s what Pope John XXIII wanted to know.
The reference to “a secular future” was an admission on the part of Vatican II that secular forces were (and are) a reality. Contrary to advocating a surge in secularization, Vatican II pleaded with the world that it could ill-afford a complete stray from faith. This remains the task of Vatican II (as opposed to godless values of empty churches and/or indifference to the human condition).
Pope Leo XIV, the current Pontiff, impresses me as an individual committed to the purpose of the Roman Catholic Church as envisioned by Pope John XXIII. God knows he has his hands full. But Vatican II, now 60 years old, is still the best guide to a Church striving to stay relevant. We owe the tool which is Vatican II to Pope John XXIII. By the same token, we owe it to ourselves to resist those who misrepresent the aims of Vatican II, be the misrepresentation on the right or the left.
John O’Neill is an Allen Park freelance writer and a graduate of Wayne State University. He attends St. Mary Magdalen in Melvindale.
