The public audience, held indoors in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall due to low temperatures, took place shortly before the start of Leo’s first consultation with cardinals, called a consistory, convened for Jan. 7–8.
The pope noted that though the Second Vatican Council took place just over 60 years ago, its generation of bishops, theologians, and lay Catholics is no longer alive — necessitating a renewed study of its teachings.
“While we hear the call not to let [the council’s] prophecy fade, and to continue to seek ways and means to implement its insights, it will be important to get to know it again closely, and to do so not through ‘hearsay’ or interpretations that have been given, but by rereading its documents and reflecting on their content,” the pope said on the morning of Jan. 7.
He affirmed that the magisterium of Vatican II “still constitutes the guiding star of the Church’s journey today.”
“As the years have passed, the conciliar documents have lost none of their timeliness; indeed, their teachings are proving particularly relevant to the new situation of the Church and the current globalized society,” he said, quoting Pope Benedict XVI.
The Holy Father also recalled the original impulse of this great ecclesial event, convened by St. John XXIII, which paved “the way for a new ecclesial season” following a “rich biblical, theological, and liturgical reflection spanning the 20th century.”
Leo reviewed some of the council’s principal fruits, including that it “rediscovered the face of God as the Father who, in Christ, calls us to be his children.”
It also led, he said, to a renewed understanding of the Church “as a mystery of communion and sacrament of unity between God and his people,” and it initiated an important “liturgical reform” by placing the mystery of salvation and the active and conscious participation of the entire people of God at its center.
“It helped us to open up to the world and to embrace the changes and challenges of the modern age in dialogue and co-responsibility, as a Church that wishes to open her arms to humanity,” he explained.
Quoting St. Paul VI, he stated that the Church embarked on a new path in order “to seek the truth by way of ecumenism, interreligious dialogue, and dialogue with people of goodwill.”
That same spirit, he added, “must characterize our spiritual life and the pastoral action of the Church, because we have yet to achieve ecclesial reform more fully in a ministerial sense and, in the face of today’s challenges, we are called to continue to be vigilant interpreters of the signs of the times, joyful proclaimers of the Gospel, courageous witnesses of justice and peace.”
“As we approach the documents of Vatican Council II and rediscover their prophetic and contemporary relevance, we welcome the rich tradition of the life of the Church and, at the same time, we question ourselves about the present and renew our joy in running towards the world to bring it the Gospel of the kingdom of God, a kingdom of love, justice, and peace,” he said.