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How did the Second Vatican Council change the position of Thomism in Roman Catholic thought?

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St. Thomas Aquinas Enthroned Between the Doctors of the Old and New Testaments, with Personifications of the Virtues, Sciences, and Liberal Arts, fresco by Andrea da Firenze, c. 1365; in the Spanish Chapel of the Church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence. — Thomism *St. Thomas Aquinas Enthroned Between the Doctors of the Old and New Testaments, with Personifications of the Virtues, Sciences, and Liberal Arts*, fresco by Andrea da Firenze, c. 1365; in the Spanish Chapel of the Church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence.

The Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) fundamentally altered the status of Thomism within Roman Catholic thought by ending the intellectual monopoly previously held by neo-Thomists. Prior to the council, neo-Thomism had become a rigid standard, often characterized by an exclusive focus on logic and metaphysics that many scholars viewed as a shallow departure from the actual depth of Thomas Aquinas’s original writings.12

Following the council’s promotion of pastoral renewal and openness to diverse theological perspectives, the dismissive attitude toward non-Thomist theologies ceased, and Aquinas’s direct influence within the church was initially reduced. However, this shift ultimately allowed theologians to move beyond the constraints of neo-Scholasticism. They began returning to the foundational principles of Aquinas’s theology to address contemporary issues, including medical ethics, human rights, the mission of the Holy Spirit, and the eschaton. This post-conciliar period fostered a renewed, historically grounded interest in Aquinas, supported by extensive 20th-century research and scholarly publications that continue to influence theological discourse today.1