Vatican II
Another major development of the twentieth century is Vatican II, the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, opened in 1962 by Pope John XXIII and closed in 1965 by Pope Paul VI. The Council may be misnamed as “ecumenical,” in the sense that only Roman Catholics had voting privileges in it. But it certainly was ecumenical in the sense that the reforms it instituted made the Catholic Church much more accessible by all other orthodox Christians and conservative members of other religions, especially the other monotheistic ones, Judaism and Islam. “Accessible” here means comprehensible, easier to find common ground with, and open.
Liberal Catholic Hopes
Liberal Catholics are generally perceived in Christian periodicals and Web sites as having had higher hopes for the reforms to come from the Council than actually appeared (especially women priests and an end to the celibacy requirement for priests). Conservative Catholics and confessing Protestants are generally pleased, especially in the way Vatican II has been interpreted in the administrations of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.
symbolism
Catholic use of hymns by Martin Luther and Charles Wesley is now common in masses — even Billy Graham's theme, “How Great Thou Art” — as well as praise songs of the type seen in most evangelical and mainline churches trying to appeal to young worshippers. The use of these songs may be the most pointed symbolical proof of the Roman church's hopes for reconciliation or reunion with Protestants.
Protestants who may have visited Catholic services in pre Vatican II days but not since are often amazed at how different they have become. Though the magisterium felt that folk masses went too far in the early years after the Council, restraints they put in effect in the intervening years have made Catholic masses almost as visitor friendly as typical evangelical services.
Biblical Support
Almost as radical as the decisions of the Council, probably because it is the most hands-on medium of the Council's reforms that the average person can get access to, is the revised Catholic Catechism, published in 1992 by Pope John Paul II. A catechism is a compendium of the teachings of a religion, with answers to just about any question a person might raise, from church teachings on birth control and homosexuality, to the seven deadly sins and seven virtues.
From a church that, its own scholars admit, hardly ever cited scripture in its literature before Vatican II, the new Catechism makes profuse use of proof texts. And a feature that the Eastern Orthodox appreciate is the liberal use throughout the catechism of citations of church fathers and the ecumenical councils of the early church.
