Magazine content is available exclusively for TIME subscribers.TIME ESSAY 1965: VATICAN II: TURNING THE CHURCH TOWARD THE WORLD
VATICAN II: TURNING THE CHURCH TOWARD THE WORLD
"THE whole world expects a step forward," said John XXIII as he opened the Second Vatican Council in October 1962. When Pope Paul VI formally closed it last week, he heralded it as "among the greatest events of the church." Whatever the future's judgment, there can be little doubt that the council indeed represents a momentous step forward in carrying Christendom's oldest, largest body into modern times and bringing it into closer contact with all men—religious or not.
Vatican II was strikingly different from the 20 other ecclesiastical assemblies that Roman Catholicism ranks as...
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