Key documents produced by the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) include the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, or Lumen gentium (Latin: “Light of the Nations”), which reflects the attempt of the council fathers to use biblical terms rather than juridical categories to describe the Roman Catholic Church. The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, or Sacrosanctum concilium (“Sacred Council”), established greater participation by laypeople in the celebration of mass and authorized significant changes such as the use of vernacular languages instead of Latin.
Another important document was the Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, or Nostra aetate (“In Our Age”), which apologized for the church’s history of antisemitism and recognized the legitimacy of Judaism and Islam.