1950–1978

The renewal of Catholic theology and the Second Vatican Council

In the 1940s Henri de Lubac and Yves Congar returned theology to early church tradition. The "nouvelle théologie" clashed with the neo-Thomists. The encyclical "Humani generis" (1950) condemned it alongside evolutionism. It silenced Teilhard de Chardin and de Lubac themselves.

John XXIII was elected in 1958 as a "transitional pope." Yet within three months he announced a plan to convene an ecumenical council for the church's "aggiornamento." The council opened on 11 October 1962 with 42% of its bishops from Latin America, Asia and Africa. It invited Protestant observers.

Paul VI continued the council until 8 December 1965. It adopted a constitution permitting liturgy in vernacular languages and a declaration on religious freedom that overturned the Syllabus. It also adopted decrees on ecumenism ("De Oecumenismo," 1964) and non-Christian religions, and the pastoral constitution "Gaudium et spes." Its leading theological experts were Karl Rahner, Yves Congar and Hans Küng.

In 1965 Paul VI and the Ecumenical Patriarch jointly lifted the mutual excommunications of 1054. Meanwhile, the 1968 encyclical "Humanae vitae" against contraception marked a conservative turn. It hardened under John Paul II, elected in 1978.