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Second vatican council essays
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The Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council, or Vatican II as it is often called, was an Ecumenical Council, (which means it affected the worldwide Christian community) of the Roman Catholic Church. It began on October 11, 1962 under, Pope John XXIII with over two thousand attendants (Hollis 23). The council ended on December 8, 1965, with Pope Paul VI presiding over the council due to the death of Pope John XXIII in 1963. The council consisted of four different sessions convening in the fall of the four years during which the council took place. Topics discussed and debated throughout the council were issues concerning the church, the liturgy, revelation and scripture, and the clergy.
The general sessions of the council would begin in late September or early October, and end in late November or early December. Special committees met during the remainder of the year to examine and assemble the previous work, and make preparations for the following session. The first session began on October 11, 1962 and ended on December 8, 1962 (Hollis 35). Issues that were deliberated on during this session were liturgy, revelation, the Eastern churches, and communication. After the first session successfully came to a close, planning for the next session came to a standstill when Pope John XXIII died on June 3, 1963 (Hollis 36). After the new pope, Pope Paul XI, was elected, he quickly declared that the council would continue. The second session began on Septemb...
It is amazing how much political and military supremacy the papacy position gained when the Crusades began. The First Crusade (1096-1099) was a military expedition initiated by Pope Urban the II to regain the Holy Lands in Jerusalem from the Muslim conquest. The Pope gave a speech requesting military action against Muslim takeover to the French people of Clermont. The speech eventually propagated to other nations for further recruitment. Urban’s political and military involvement helped regain the Holy Lands and save the Christian Crusaders souls. His famous speech changed the course of history in part because its dissemination was overly successful, and assembled over 40,000 Crusaders to do the will of God. Why was Pope Urban II so victorious in recruiting people for the First Crusade, and why was his influence so important?
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome and the leader of the Catholic Church. This is something that started right after the death of Jesus. When Jesus resurrected, he said to St. Peter, “Feed my lambs.... Tend my sheep.... Feed my sheep.” This command given to Peter made him the head of the apostles, henceforth, making him the first Pope. Peter would rule for approximately 34 years, and when he died he was succeeded by St. Linus. The tradition of serving as Pope until death was started by Peter and has been carried on for centuries. Since Peter, there have been 264 Popes and very few have not stayed in power until their death. Most recently, and most commonly known, is Pope Benedict XVI. As the successor of John Paul II, Benedict chose to step down due to old age. Despite this, Pope Benedict did great things during his papacy.
About thirty eight years later, in 1978, the College of Cardinals elected the young Polish Cardinal, Wojtyla, to become the 264th Bishop of Rome and the Vicar of Christ; the first non-Italian Pope in 455 years. On October 22 of that year, Wojtyla was installed as Pope John Paul II, honoring the two popes of the Second Vatican Council, whose reforms he intended to continue throughout the duration of his papacy.
The period immediately following the Protestant reformation and the Catholic counter reformation, was full of conflict and war. The entire continent of Europe and all of it's classes of society were affected by the destruction and flaring tempers of the period. In the Netherlands, the Protestants and the Catholics were at eachother’s throats. In France it was the Guise family versus the Bourbons. In Bohemia, the religious and political structures caused total havoc for over thirty years; and in England, the Presbyterians thought that the English Anglican Church too closely resembled the Roman Catholic Church. Religion was the major cause of the widespread turmoil that took place throughout Europe between 1560 and 1660.
The average attendance at the meetings was 2200. ESSAY Vatican II, as we can clearly see from the above information, was a very large and important meeting in the Roman Catholic Church. Vatican II has altered the Roman Catholic Church more than any other council that took place. It has great significance as it makes the church more reasonable and realistic. The Church, after the council, was much more down-to-earth and open-minded.
... interruptions, the council played a vital role in revitalizing the Roman Catholic church in many parts of Europe.
Sexual abuse is a growing concern in society today. So many people are hurt by the actions of other people when they abuse them, especially in a sexual manner. The Catholic Church is also now being targeted for sexual offenders. Priests have been charged with sexually abusing young boys that are involved with the church. The church has been looking the other way on this issue for many years. The children as well as their family are being hurt and its time something was done to prevent the further exploitation of young boys in the Catholic Church.
She helps illustrate a very important issue in the Catholic Church. Women have begun to populate positions within the Church, but none have broken through a “Glass Ceiling,” that keeps them from entering positions of power. The Church has long been Male Dominated for a number of reasons, not allowing women into teaching positions or positions of authority. She is the first non-ordained person to have power and jurisdiction within Vatican city. She also exemplifies a cultural shift that started with John Paul II, ended briefly with Pope Benedict XVI, and was restarted by the newest Pope, Francis. This cultural shift is probably tied to feminism…
Council of Chalcedon. It was just another way he found to exercise his power as the
A reformation is often defined as the action of change for improvement. The Protestant Reformation is a movement that began in 1517, which split the unity of the Western Church; and later established Protestantism. The three main factors that impacted the reformation were political, sociological and theological. Martin Luther and John Calvin, two protestant Reformers who reformed Catholicism, strived to define salvation and impact the church as a whole. How do Martin Luther’s reforms compare to John Calvin’s through their struggle to define salvation, how people viewed them, and how the church was affected as a whole? Martin Luther and John Calvin both had a huge impact on the reformation and were both regarded with great respect; however, Martin Luther’s strive for salvation and the reformation of the church was more successful than Calvin’s.
The Reformation occurred all over Western Europe. It was mostly set in Germany where various parts of corruption in the Church happened. Martin Luther started the process of the Reformation, he was German so he understood how the Catholic Church took advantage and didn't think this was fair. The Catholic Reformation took place between 1450-1650 which was the biggest revolution in Germany, although the understanding of Luther's actions weren't taken notice of until he put the 95 Theses on the Church's door. Luther felt that Bishops and Priests didn't understand the bible correctly. Luther wanted the Reformation to help fix this by helping the uneducated and powerless. Some of the movement of this was
Democratic transitions recently became a topic of great discussion among political scholars as a domino effect of democratization began in Latin America in the 1970s and continued through Eastern Europe in the late 1980s. In many of these transitions, the Catholic Church[1] played a crucial role as the protector of civil society during periods of communist and right-wing authoritarian rule, as well as taking an active role to promote the establishment of democracy (Bruneau 1994, Levine 1980, Stepan and Linz 1996, Peréz-Díaz 1993, Ramet 1987). While the Church’s political role in transition is important, significantly fewer scholars have explored how democracy affected the Catholic Church within the national context (Eberts 1998, Ramet 1999, Vilarino and Tizon 1998). Even fewer have attempted cross-national comparisons of the Church, thus permitting generalizations to be made about the political influence of the Church since the institution of democratic governance (Casanova 1993, Gill et al.1998).
The Reformation was a decisive period in the history not only for the Catholic Church, but also for the entire world. The causes of this tumultuous point in history did not burst on the scene all at once, but slowly gained momentum like a boil that slowly festers through time before it finally bursts open. The Reformation of the Church was inevitable because of the abuses which the Church was suffering during this period. At the time of the Reformation, a segment of the Church had drifted away from its mission to bring Christ and salvation to the world. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Church had gradually become weaker because of abusive leadership, philosophical heresy, and a renewal of a form of the Pelagian heresy.
The Catholic Reformation also known as the Counter Reformation all began after the Protestant Reformation. The Protestant Reformation was conducted by Henry the 8th. Henry the 8th created the reformation which converted the Catholic churches to Protestant, this allowed Henry to divorce and then remarry. Because of this most of the churches became Protestant. This however, did not leave all of the Catholics happy. In response the Catholics decided to undergo some changes to create the Catholic Reformation. This would help prevent Catholics from leaving the Catholic faith and becoming Protestant.
Early in history, the Roman papacy consolidated its power. It became one of the most influential organizations in the medieval period. This rise to power resulted from the decline in the Western Empire, the leadership of Roman bishops, and special grants that gave the church land holdings. This rise to power caused some positive ramifications, such as the protection of the church from heresy. However, the absolute power of the pope also caused corruption and abuses, many of which would eventually spark the reformation.