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.

Example Sentences

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Most dramatically, the Catholicism animated by an accurate reading of Vatican II is found in sub-Saharan Africa, where orthodoxy is creating what will soon be the demographic center of the church.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 4, 2025

At St. Maria Goretti, once steeped in the ethos of Vatican II, many parishioners saw the changes as a requiem.

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

Benedict also permitted Catholics to celebrate Mass with the Latin Rite that Vatican II had nixed.

From Washington Post • Dec. 31, 2022

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