Origin from 1962
Pope John the Twenty-Third convened the Second Vatican Council, which met in four ten-week sessions each autumn from 1962 to 1965 under John and, after his death, Pope Paul the Sixth. The council authorised the vernacular liturgy in place of Latin, opened formal dialogue with other Christian communions and other religions, and affirmed religious freedom, reshaping how the Roman Catholic Church related to the cultures it had already spread into and accelerating its own inculturation across the Global South in the decades that followed, the same shift this atlas records separately as the Global South Shift in Christianity's center of gravity. A separate page for the council itself, distinct in kind from this spread event, already exists elsewhere in this catalog.
Facts
Dates
End Year1965 is the close of the council's fourth and final session under Pope Paul the Sixth, following Pope John the Twenty-Third's death partway through the council in 1963. Learn More
How the Second Vatican Council Reshaped Global Catholicism
This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
Pope John the Twenty-Third convened the Second Vatican Council, which met in four ten-week sessions each autumn from 1962 to 1965 under John and, after his death partway through, his successor Pope Paul the Sixth. Bishops from across the worldwide church gathered in Rome each session to debate and vote on the church's own renewal.
The council authorised the vernacular liturgy in place of Latin, opened formal dialogue with other Christian communions and other world religions, and affirmed religious freedom as a principle, reshaping how the Roman Catholic Church related to the many cultures it had already spread into. A separate page for the council itself, distinct in kind from this spread event, already exists elsewhere in this catalog.
What this changed for Christianity's spread was an acceleration of the church's own inculturation across the Global South in the decades that followed, the same shift this atlas records separately as the Global South Shift in Christianity's center of gravity. A council convened to renew the church's inner life ended up reshaping how it related, going forward, to the many cultures its earlier centuries of missionary spread had already carried it into.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Global directly: "its own inculturation across the Global South in the decades that followed, the same shift this atlas records separately as the Global South Shift in Christianity's center of gravity."
John, Figures This source names John directly: "Pope John the Twenty-Third convened the Second Vatican Council, which met in four ten-week sessions each autumn from 1962 to 1965 under John and, after his death, Pope Paul the Sixth."
Occurred In
Vatican City, the tighter anchor than Italy.
Spread Event Of
Not a geographic arrival but a status-defining council, the same shape Milan and Thessalonica already carry on this timeline; recorded here for its role in reshaping the Roman Catholic Church's relationship to the cultures it had already spread into.
Sources
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