Second Vatican Council (Vatican II)

The teachings of the Second Vatican Council are still “the guiding star” the Catholic Church is meant to follow, Pope Leo XIV said.

In his Jan. 7, 2026, general audience, Pope Leo began a new series of catecheses reflecting on the Second Vatican Council and its documents.

Dispatches revealed the council’s unseen conflicts — factions working to block reforms, curial power plays and intense exchanges shaping the church’s future.

The letter, released Dec. 22, marked the 60th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s decrees on priestly formation and on the life and ministry of priests.

The council, opened under Pope John XXIII and closed under his successor, Pope Paul VI, initiated a comprehensive renewal, with major council texts released on hot-button church issues.

In many ways, “Gaudium et Spes,” or the “Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World,” is the culmination of what the Second Vatican Council hoped to accomplish, the …

Influential religious leaders reminded Catholics of their responsibility to combat antisemitism while celebrating the 60th anniversary of “Nostra Aetate.”

The document, signed by St. Paul VI, was placed on the Vatican audience hall’s stage, along with an oil lamp from Assisi and an olive tree, a symbol of peace.

Catholic schools and universities, the pope wrote, must be “places where questions are not silenced and doubt is not banned but accompanied.”

“Gravissimum Educationis,” the Declaration on Christian Education, marks its 60th anniversary Oct. 28.