Monthly Archives: November 2014

The forthcoming Constitution on the Church will become the most memorable achievement of the Second Vatican Council and will launch a totally new era in Catholic thought. The constitution has already received the basic approval of the council Fathers through … Continue reading →

This is a translation of the speech delivered Nov. 21 by Pope Paul VI at the closing session of the ecumenical council’s third session. After two months of intense brotherly effort, we render thanks to God for the happy celebration … Continue reading →

Here is a box score on Second Vatican Council accomplishments through the first three sessions. Council acts debated, amended and promulgated: The Constitution on the Liturgy and the Decree on Communications Media, in the second session (1963). The Constitution on … Continue reading →

Closing of Council’s Third Session November 21, 1964 With the proclamation of the constitution on the nature of the Church and the decrees on ecumenism and the Eastern Churches, Pope Paul VI solemnly brought the third session of the ecumenical … Continue reading →

This is the text of the address delivered by Joseph Cardinal Ritter of St. Louis in the ecumenical council Nov. 20 on the document on matrimony. I am highly pleased by the votum “On the Sacrament of Matrimony” and more … Continue reading →

The suggestions for canonical legislation on marriage which the council has sent to Pope Paul VI for his own consideration take up little more than two pages of printed text. But if accepted and enacted, they could give the Church’s … Continue reading →

127th General Congregation November 20, 1964 The final working day of the third session of the ecumenical council ended as a large majority approved the declaration on the Church’s relations with non-Christians, which includes a strong and clear statement on … Continue reading →

The schema on the Church in the Modern World, which underwent almost three weeks of sharp debate, inevitably will receive drastic revision between now and the fourth session of the Second Vatican Council. The lively discussion on the schema in … Continue reading →

This is the text of the summary issued by the council press office of the council votum (suggestions for canonical legislation) on matrimony. The Commission for the Discipline of the Sacraments had prepared a schema on marriage in 1963, in the … Continue reading →

126th General Congregation November 19, 1964 The next to last working meeting of the ecumenical council’s third session exploded in controversy and confusion as Eugene Cardinal Tisserant, dean of the council presidency, announced that no vote would be taken on … Continue reading →