Why Vatican II still matters today

Pope Leo XIV is conducting a series of general audience talks to examine the 16 documents issued by the Second Vatican Council. The Pope intends to discuss each document individually to encourage Catholics to rediscover the Council by reading the texts directly rather than relying on outside interpretations.

The teaching series comes as the generation that lived through the Council passes away. About 70% of Catholics in America were born after the Council.

The effort occurs amid ongoing debates regarding liturgical changes made after the Council. While some Catholics prefer the pre-Vatican II form of the liturgy, popes since the Council have described the Council as a great grace and a work of the Holy Spirit. Popes have also maintained that the liturgical reforms represent an organic development of Church tradition, though they have acknowledged the need to continue purifying how these reforms are carried out.