The Vatican in Vatican City, Rome

Almost a century after Vatican I, Pope John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council. Its purpose was the "updating" of the church. More than 2,000 Catholic bishops and theologians attended, producing statements on priesthood, episcopacy, revelation, missions, church relations to non-Christians, and religious freedom. The statement on ecumenism opened the way for dialog with Orthodox, Anglican, and Protestant theologians. Vatican II encouraged Catholics to worship in their own languages, rather than in Latin. Many Catholics were troubled by the changes, while others felt that the Council had not gone far enough. Vatican II marked a major change in Roman Catholic response to pluralism and other aspects of modernity.