For other uses see Sign of the times (disambiguation)

Sign of the times

Sign of the times may refer to:* Sign of the times , a phrase associated with some Aggiornamentos of the Roman Catholic Church* A Sign of the Times, a 1966 single by Petula Clark...

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Sign of the times is a phrase strongly associated with Roman Catholicism in the era of the Second Vatican Council

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...

. It was taken to mean that the Church should listen to, and learn from, the world around it. In other words, it should learn to read the 'sign(s) of the times'. It was particularly used during the Council by Aggiornamento

Aggiornamento

-Code of Canon law:Originally, the word referred merely to an adjournment of the Code of Canon law, as John XXIII said himself in his 1959 speech. However, the Code of canon law was only completed in 1983, after a long delay of 18 years after the end of the Council...

s, one of the two rival groups of clergy attending the Council. Aggiornamentos argued that the Church should be guided by working with, and learning from, the world around it. The phrase dropped out of use in the 1970s.