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Vatican II

Cultural

The popular name for the Second Vatican Council, an assembly of all the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church held from 1962 to 1965. The bishops ordered a large-scale liberalization and modernization of practices in their church.

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Vatican II

The Society of Saint Pius X comprises fundamentalist Catholics who strongly oppose the liberal reforms imposed by the Vatican II Council in the 1960s.

From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026

Appeared in the December 5, 2025, print edition as 'What Was the Point of Vatican II?'.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 4, 2025

The progressive priests who dominated the U.S. church in the years after Vatican II are now in their 70s and 80s.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 30, 2024

Vatican II modernised the liturgy, including more active participation by the congregation.

From Reuters ● Feb. 21, 2023

For now the publication is on solid financial ground, but many of its current supporters are older people who have been reading it since the days of Vatican II 60 years ago.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 4, 2023

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023