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Second Vatican Council
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Father of Vatican II Large crowd fills St. Peter's Square as rows of Catholic bishops in white mitres process during the opening ceremonies of the Second Vatican Council in Vatican City. Pope John XXIII is carried on a ceremonial chair beneath a canopy through a large crowd outside St. Peter's Basilica at the Second Vatican Council in Vatican City.
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Father of Vatican II
Father of Vatican II Pope John XXIII blessing the bishops of the Second Vatican Council (commonly known as Vatican II) and all present at the closing ceremony of the council's first session at the Vatican in December 1962.

Second Vatican Council

Roman Catholic history [1962–1965]
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Second Vatican Council, (1962–65), 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, announced by Pope John XXIII on January 25, 1959, as a means of spiritual renewal for the church and as an occasion for Christians separated from Rome to join in a search for Christian unity. Vatican II, as the council is also known, produced 16 documents that enacted many modernizing changes in the church according to the theme of aggiornamento (Italian: “bringing up...

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