Gaudet Mater Ecclesia
Encyclopedia
Gaudet Mater Ecclesia, Latin for ("Mother Church Rejoices"), is the opening declaration of the Second Vatican Council
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Pope John opened the Council on October 11, 1962 in a public session before the Council Fathers as well as representatives of 86 governments and international bodies. Following a Mass, the Pope read the opening declaration.
In the speech, he rejected the thoughts of "prophets of doom who are always forecasting disaster" in the world and in the future of the Church. Pope John stressed the pastoral, not doctrinal, nature of the Council: The Church did not need to repeat or reformulate existing doctrines and dogmata but rather had to teach Christ's message in light of the modern world's ever-changing trends.
He exhorted the Council Fathers "to use the medicine of mercy rather than the weapons of severity" in the documents they would produce.
Original text
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
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Pope John opened the Council on October 11, 1962 in a public session before the Council Fathers as well as representatives of 86 governments and international bodies. Following a Mass, the Pope read the opening declaration.
In the speech, he rejected the thoughts of "prophets of doom who are always forecasting disaster" in the world and in the future of the Church. Pope John stressed the pastoral, not doctrinal, nature of the Council: The Church did not need to repeat or reformulate existing doctrines and dogmata but rather had to teach Christ's message in light of the modern world's ever-changing trends.
He exhorted the Council Fathers "to use the medicine of mercy rather than the weapons of severity" in the documents they would produce.
Original text