The Second Vatican Council

Did the Church become something else in 1965?

No, the Church holds. The Council said it was “following faithfully the teaching of previous councils”, and no council can add to the faith: “no new public revelation is to be expected”, and the teaching office “is not above the word of God, but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on”. Lumen Gentium 1; CCC 66; Dei Verbum 10 What the Council set out to change was “those institutions which are subject to change”, and the way the faith is put: “the deposit of Faith or the truths are one thing and the manner in which they are enunciated, in the same meaning and understanding, is another”. Sacrosanctum Concilium 1; Gaudium et Spes 62

In the liturgy the Council distinguished “immutable elements divinely instituted” from “elements subject to change”, and bound its own reform: “there must be no innovations unless the good of the Church genuinely and certainly requires them”, and new forms should “grow organically from forms already existing”. Sacrosanctum Concilium 21; Sacrosanctum Concilium 23 It declared all lawfully acknowledged rites “of equal right and dignity”. Sacrosanctum Concilium 4 And “even the supreme authority in the Church may not change the liturgy arbitrarily”. CCC 1125

The other text most often named is the declaration on religious freedom of December 1965. It speaks of freedom from coercion “in civil society”, and says it “leaves untouched traditional Catholic doctrine on the moral duty of men and societies toward the true religion and toward the one Church of Christ”. Dignitatis Humanae 1

Liturgical diversity, the Catechism says, “can be a source of enrichment, but it can also provoke tensions, mutual misunderstandings, and even schisms”, and it “must not damage unity”. CCC 1206

"The Christian economy, therefore, since it is the new and definitive Covenant, will never pass away; and no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ." DV 4; cf. I Tim 6:14; Titus 2:13 Yet even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries.

The apostles entrusted the "Sacred deposit" of the faith (the depositum fidei), DV 10 # 1; cf.I Tim 6:20; 2 Tim 1:12-14(Vulg.). contained in Sacred Scripture and Tradition, to the whole of the Church. "By adhering to [this heritage] the entire holy people, united to its pastors, remains always faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. So, in maintaining, practising and professing the faith that has been handed on, there should be a remarkable harmony between the bishops and the faithful." DV 10 # 1; cf. Acts 2:42 (Greek); Pius XII, Apost. Const. Munificentissimus Deus, 1 November 1950: AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 42 (1950) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1950), 756, taken along with the words of St. Cyprian, Epist. 66, 8: CSEL 3/2, 733: "The Church is the people united to its Priests, the flock adhering to its Shepherd."

"The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ." DV 10 # 2. This means that the task of interpretation has been entrusted to the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome.

"Yet this Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but is its servant. It teaches only what has been handed on to it. At the divine command and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it listens to this devotedly, guards it with dedication and expounds it faithfully. All that it proposes for belief as being divinely revealed is drawn from this single deposit of faith." DV 10 para 2.

Mindful of Christ's words to his apostles: "He who hears you, hears me", Lk 10:16; cf. LG 20. The faithful receive with docility the teachings and directives that their pastors give them in different forms.

1124

The Church's faith precedes the faith of the believer who is invited to adhere to it. When the Church celebrates the sacraments, she confesses the faith received from the apostles - whence the ancient saying: lex orandi, lex credendi (or: legem credendi lex statuat supplicandi according to Prosper of Aquitaine [5th cent.]). Ep. 8. The law of prayer is the law of faith: the Church believes as she prays. Liturgy is a constitutive element of the holy and living Tradition. Cf. DV 8.

1125

For this reason no sacramental rite may be modified or manipulated at the will of the minister or the community. Even the supreme authority in the Church may not change the liturgy arbitrarily, but only in the obedience of faith and with religious respect for the mystery of the liturgy.

1205

"In the liturgy, above all that of the sacraments, there is an immutable part, a part that is divinely instituted and of which the Church is the guardian, and parts that can be changed, which the Church has the power and on occasion also the duty to adapt to the cultures of recently evangelized peoples." John Paul II, Vicesimus quintus annus, 16; cf. SC 21.

1206

"Liturgical diversity can be a source of enrichment, but it can also provoke tensions, mutual misunderstandings, and even schisms. In this matter it is clear that diversity must not damage unity. It must express only fidelity to the common faith, to the sacramental signs that the Church has received from Christ, and to hierarchical communion. Cultural adaptation also requires a conversion of heart and even, where necessary, a breaking with ancestral customs incompatible with the Catholic faith." John Paul 11, Vicesimus quintus annus, 16.

Dignitatis Humanae Dec 7, 1965
Gaudium et Spes Dec 7, 1965
Dei Verbum Nov 18, 1965
Lumen Gentium Nov 21, 1964
Sacrosanctum Concilium Dec 4, 1963

From the Catechism

From the Magisterium