The Contested Legacy of Vatican II: Lessons and Prospects

The Second Vatican Council was the most important event in the Roman

Catholic Church in the twentieth century. In line with Pope John XXIII’s

desire for aggiornamento it searched for ways to enable the

Church to meet the challenges of the times and thus prepare a future for

Christian faith and life. This search for renewal met with opposition

during the Council and its reception process up to the current day.

In this volume authors known for their research on and familiarity with

the Council’s history and its reception reflect on the (non-)reception

of Vatican II in the Roman Catholic Church. Paying attention to both the

wishes of the majority of the Council fathers and the often blocked

implementation of their decisions during the post-Vatican II period,

they make clear that the freedom of speech that existed during the

Council soon was put aside, partly because those who where opposed to

the conciliar developments remained in charge after the Council.

At the same time, the contributors to this volume are of the opinion

that Vatican II and its texts continue to offer much inspiration for the

life of the faithful today. According to Leo Declerck, Etienne

Fouilloux, Peter Hunermann, Joseph Komonchak, Mathijs Lamberigts,

Nicholas Lash, Gilles Routhier, and Christoph Theobald, Gaudium et

spes thus continue to prevail over grief and anxiety, too often used as

instruments for a “revision’ of Vatican II.

This book offers both keen insights into the history of the Council and

its intuitions, and the contested but still needed implementation of it.