Pope Francis led the Catholic Church in recognizing the importance and impact of the Council on the Church as Vatican II turned 60 Tuesday.

“#Pope Francis: Vatican II taught the church to look around, "being in the world without feeling superior to others, being servants of that higher realm, the Kingdom of God, bringing the good news of the Gospel into people’s lives & languages; sharing their joys and hopes,” Catholic News Service tweeted, quoting Pope Francis. 

The Second Vatican Council, which came to be known as Vatican II, was an ecumenical council that Pope St. John XXIII called for the creation of in early 1959. It was designed to be a means for spiritual renewal and a chance for Catholics around the world to unite in Rome, Britannica says. The pastoral needs of the council were several, but the most important was the “Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy,” which brought the laity more into the liturgy and introduced the “novus ordo," or order of Mass, that most Catholics know today. Vatican II produced 16 documents and it came to an end in 1965 with Pope Paul VI. 

St. John XXIII’s feast day coincides with the anniversary, and the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee tweeted to ask for his intercession. “‘What unites us, is much greater than what divides us.’ ~ St. John XXIII. St. John XXIII, please pray for us! #PTDiocese #PrayForUs.” 

His Vatican Biography says Pope St. John XXIII, born Angelo Roncalli, became Pope in 1958. He served until his death in 1963.

Few of those who elected him realized “the pontificate of this man of 76 years would mark a turning point in history and initiate a new age for the Church,” the biography says.

“Since his death on June 3, 1963, much has been written and spoken about the warmth and holiness of the beloved Pope John,” the biography continues. “Perhaps the testimony of the world was best expressed by a newspaper drawing of the earth shrouded in mourning with the simple caption, ‘A Death in the Family.’"

His most noted accomplishment was the convocation of Vatican II in 1962 and creating it was one reason Pope St. John XXIII was canonized by Pope Francis in 2014. 

Vatican II was meant to address many topics, but the common theme of was to bring the Church into the modern world, A.C. Wimmer writes in an article for the Catholic News Agency. Four sessions in St. Peter’s Basilica resulted in “four constitutions” that changed the trajectory of the Catholic Church. 

Wimmer summed up some of the high points in a Vatican II timeline:

Pope St. John Paul XXIII first announced plans for the council in 1959 and he established 11 commissions in 1960, by HUMANAE SALUTIS.

The council convened in Rome in 1961, bringing together some 2,500 bishops. Productive sessions began soon thereafter. 

In 1962, the first session’s key point of concern was “the collegiality of bishops, the relationship with other religions and religious freedom,” Wimmer says. 

In 1963, Pope St. John XXIII died and Pope Paul VI was elected. Near the end of the year, the Church officially adopted the use of languages besides Latin in the liturgy. 

In 1964, Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, was issued. Other famous documents include: The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum and the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes. 

In 1965, the council wound things up with the proclamation of a Jubilee Year that would help the Church incorporate those new items in dioceses and services around the world. 

Catholic writer George Weigel, the official biographer of Pope St. John Paul II, has released a book about Vatican II’s impact. “To Sanctify the World: the Vital Legacy of Vatican II” can be purchased on Amazon.