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1. This sacred Council has several aims in view: it desires to impart an ever increasing vigor to the Christian life of the faithful; to adapt more suitably to the needs of our own times those institutions which are subject to change; to foster whatever can promote union among all who believe in Christ; to strengthen whatever can help to call the whole of mankind into the household of the Church. The Council therefore sees particularly cogent reasons for undertaking the reform and promotion of the liturgy. —Sacrosanctum Concilium
One of the first issues considered by the council, and the matter that had the most immediate effect on the lives of individual Catholics, was the revision of the liturgy. The central idea was that there ought to be greater lay participation in the liturgy.
Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that fully conscious and active participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy. Such participation by the Christian people as a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a redeemed people (1 Peter 2:9; cf. 2:4–5), is their right and duty by reason of their baptism. —Sacrosanctum Concilium 14
Many have claimed that Vatican II went much further in encouraging "active participation" than previous Popes had allowed or recommended. Popes Pius X, Pius XI, and Pius XII consistently asked that the people be taught how to chant the responses at Mass and that they learn the prayers of the Mass in order to participate intelligently. For its part, Vatican II never asked for the involvement of the laity in the sanctuary that is typical of post-conciliar practice. The council fathers established guidelines to govern the revision of the liturgy, which included allowed and encouraged greater use of the vernacular (native language) in addition to Latin, particularly for the biblical readings and other prayers. As bishops determined, local or national customs could be cautiously incorporated into the liturgy.
Implementation of the Council's directives on the liturgy was carried out under the authority of Pope Paul VI by a special papal commission, later incorporated in the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and, in the areas entrusted to them, by national conferences of bishops, which, if they had a shared language, were expected to collaborate in producing a common translation.
Catholicism, Vatican City, Pope Francis, Pope, Pope Benedict XVI
Latin literature, Romance languages, Ancient Rome, Rome, Ecclesiastical Latin
Vatican City, Spain, Italy, Pope, Catholicism
Vatican City, Catholicism, Pope, Catholic Church, First Vatican Council
Psalms, Easter, Solemn Mass, Catholicism, Summorum Pontificum
Pope Benedict XVI, Pope, Ten Commandments, Catholicism, Catholic Church
Our Lady of Lourdes, Corpus Christi (feast), Christmas, Easter, General Roman Calendar of 1960
Law, Civil law (legal system), Common law, Roman Law, Lutheranism