The Papacy and Vatican II

Abstract The papacy and the Second Vatican Council are closely connected: first, because the initiative for the convocation of the council came from the pope himself, John XXIII, and second, because both John XXIII and Paul VI guided the development of the council to its conclusion. The close connection of Vatican II with the papacy did not end with the close of the council. It continued in a very intense way with the reception of the message of Vatican II in the pontificates of Paul VI and John Paul II and has continued in the pontificates of Benedict XVI and Francis. The council profoundly changed the very modalities of the exercise of the papacy and required a reform of the structures of its government, especially those of the Roman Curia in relation to the local churches throughout the world.