These non-academic documents were intended to be read by ordinary people and actually provide vision, inspiration and spiritual nourishment. Today, October 11, 2016, marks the 54 th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council.. Pope Paul VI characterized the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on Religious Freedom -- Dignitatis Humanae -- as one of the greatest documents of Vatican II. The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the Second Vatican Council or Vatican II, addressed relations between the Catholic Church and the modern world.The Council, through the Holy See, was formally opened under the pontificate of Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and was closed under Pope Paul VI on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on 8 December 1965. While regular readers of this space are well-versed in matters concerning Vatican II, the Council it remains a source of confusion for many if not most in the Church, and that includes any number of those in Catholic media. The Second Vatican Council (or Vatican II) was the 21st Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church. It is also perhaps the most intensely debated document of the Council. Benedict XVI, Principles of Catholic Theology, 1982, p. 381: "If it is desirable to offer a diagnosis of the text [of the Vatican II document, Gaudium et Spes] as a whole, we might say that (in conjunction with the texts on religious liberty and world religions) it is a revision of the Syllabus of … The Council, through the Holy See, was formally opened under the pontificate of Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and was closed under Pope Paul VI on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on 8 December 1965. The Council, through the Holy See, formally opened under the pontificate of Pope John XXIII on October 11, 1962, and closed under Pope Paul VI on the feast of the Immaculate Conception in 1965.. Vatican II had about sixteen basic documents in the form of constitutions, decrees, and declarations.

Many have a strong opinion have Vatican II, but few have actually read the documents produced by the Second Vatican Council. The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the Second Vatican Council or Vatican II, addressed relations between the Catholic Church and the modern world.