In response to these internal issues the Church presented the idea of the Second Vatican Council with the aim to ‘throw open the windows of the catholic church so that we can see out and the people can see in’ (Pope John XXIII, 1962). The process and structure the church followed during the council was exceedingly inclusive and successful. The process of Vatican …show more content…
Non-Catholics were also welcome to attend the council. The council, with the message to ‘use the medicine of mercy, rather tan the weapons of severity’ (Pope John XXIII, 1962), began with 73 proposed constitutions, or schemata, to be addressed. The first session ran from the 11th of October to the 8th of December 1962 in which organisational matters were …show more content…
During this session the first two constitutions were created, the constitution of the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium), this document addressed the issue of the proceedings of the mass and the sacraments, it revised mass veneration so that people would have a clearer sense of their own involvement in the mass. The second constitution addressed in this second session was the Decree on the Instruments of Social Communication (Inter Mirifica), this document called on members of the church to evangelise and install a Christian spirit in modern world communication.
The third session ran from the 3rd of September to the 14th of November 1964. During this session 3 more documents were created. The Dogmatic Constitution of the Church (Lumen Gentium), this document reaffirmed the Church’s position as a communion of baptised believers as the body of Christ and the pilgrim of faith. The Decree on Ecumenism (Unitatus Redintegratio) looked into the importance of ecumenism and opening the doors of the