Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

Vatican II has always been seriously misunderstood

Both progressive and traditionalist Catholics mistook its message from the start, leading to 60 years of needless disruption in the Church, says George Weigel

Entry of the bishops to the Second Vatican Council, 11 October 1962. [Alamy] 
issue 05 November 2022

People no longer moan about most of the things that bothered them during my childhood. You don’t hear old folk at bus stops ridiculing the ‘new pence’ of decimal currency. Students no longer care about Vietnam. Retired wing commanders have finally stopped writing to the newspapers about the misuse of that fine old English word ‘gay’. But there is one topic that still attracts world-class windbags. It’s worthy of inclusion in the fictional world boring championships described by the Daily Telegraph’s Peter Simple column, right up there with ‘A history of plywood’ and ‘Parking problems in Wolverhampton’. We’re talking about the Second Vatican Council, whose first session was held 60 years ago last month.

The Catholic Church is falling to pieces because no one can be bothered to attend its tedious services

To mark the occasion, George Weigel, one of America’s most distinguished Catholic thinkers, has written an analysis of the Council entitled To Sanctify the World.

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