May 4, 2012. (Romereports.com) This coming month of October, will mark 50 years since the Second Vatican Council was officially opened. To look into how this Council changed the Catholic Church, several conferences are taking place in Rome. One of them, was held at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, which focused on the Council's role in the New Evangelization.


FR. JOHANNES GROHE
Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (Rome)
“In the long history of the Church, 50 years is really not that much.  Fifty years later the council is still a work in progress.”

CARMEN JOSE ALEJOS
University of Navarra (Spain)
“We looked into the ecumenical aspect of the Second Vatican Council. Also, the reform of the liturgy and the Church, and the mystery of the Church through the Second Vatican Council.”

HELMUT HOPING
University of Fribourg (Switzerland)
“The Council decided on some very important points about the liturgy. The reform of the liturgy and the renewal and the establishment of the Church, like 'Lumen Gentium' and freedom of religion.  Also, the important pastoral constitution on the government of the Church.”

And then, a key document of Vatican II, titled 'Nostra Aetate' was also discussed. The document looked into the Church's relationship with non-Christians.

FR. DAVID MARIA JAEGUER
Antonianum Pontifical University (Rome)
“Less than 20 years after the end of World War II and the Holocaust, the Church was thinking of new ways of relating with people, a new way of relating to Jews. That's why it developed a declaration on its relationship with the Jewish community. But really "Nostra Aetate” deals with the relationship between Church and non-Christians in general.”

The conference was sponsored Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich. The two day conference was also a way to get ready for the coming year of faith.


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