The meeting on Sunday, March 3 this year with Archbishop Szczepan Wesoły, who during the Second Vatican Council headed the Polish press office, began a new series of meetings organized by the John Paul II Pontificate Centre for Research and Documentation and the Polish Chaplaincy at St. Stanislaw Church in Rome: “The Second Vatican Council as the compass of the New Evangelization”. It is devoted to discovering the actuality of the Second Vatican Council. The series refers to the expression of Bl. John Paul II, who said that the New Evangelization has its source in the Second Vatican Council, which constitutes a “compass” for the Church in the new millennium. The organizers wish to discuss important topics such as the Council’s teaching, for example: the unity and diversity of the Church, human freedom and fidelity to the Gospel or the problems of the Church’s mission in the modern world.
The Conversation with Archbishop Szczepan Wesoły was conducted by Fr. Andrzej Dobrzyński. They talked about the history of the Council since its announcement on January 25th, 1959 by Bl. John XXIII, to its completion on December 8th 1965 by Pope Paul VI. Archbishop Wesoły emphasized the great work of preparation of the Council’s proceedings. The survey prepared by the pre-preparatory Commission and sent out to bishops, superiors general and theological faculties brought a feedback of 3 thousand responses. This material was used to set up special committees to prepare thematic projects, the so-called schemas. At the beginning there were 70 schemas, but subsequently their number was reduced to 22.
The Council began October 11, 1962. The bishops gathered for the autumn sessions in Rome, which lasted more than two months. The general congregations of the Council’s fathers took place in the Basilica of St. Peter which served as the assembly hall. In total, the Second Vatican Council was attended by over 3000 Council fathers. Unfortunately, many bishops from behind the Iron Curtain could not attend the Council. The Polish were the bigger group of bishops from communist countries. On average approximately more than 2200 bishops attended each session. About 2500 speeches were delivered in the Council hall and they were recorded on tape. More than 4500 statements in writing were submitted as well. The congregations in the Council hall were held in the morning, and in the afternoon the committees of the Council were working and also a number of different meetings took place.
Archbishop Wesoły pointed out that among the Council Fathers there was an excellent atmosphere, and above all, they had the opportunity to meet and exchange pastoral experiences. In fact, the Council was for them an excellent opportunity to know the Church better and to experience its universality. At the Council there were also more than 400 theologians, half of them were experts who were appointed by the Pope and they worked in the committees. The other half of them were theologians who were invited by the particular bishops to cooperate. There were also more than 40 lay auditors, among them Professor Stefan Swieżawski from Poland and more than 100 observers from other Christian denominations.
Archbishop Wesoły also spoke about the Council documents. The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosantum Concilium was promulgated early, as was largely prepared by the liturgical renewal movement. He noted that in his opinion, the most important document of the Council was, however, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium. But one should keep in mind that the Second Vatican Council, though focused on the Church, was a Christ-centered council, because “light to the nations,” is none other than Christ. This light should be carried to the modern world by the Church. Archbishop Wesoły also drew attention to the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes and to the Declaration on Religious Freedom as well as the Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions. These documents were very innovative, they aroused great interest in the press, but also controversies. The work on them was difficult and frequently amendments were introduced. Finally, the Council adopted 16 documents.
When asked about working in the press office, the Archbishop pointed out that those days there were no photocopiers and for preparing a press bulletin, which was published in 14 languages, it was necessary to prepare a matrix for printing. Speeches of bishops were translated from Latin. There were attempts of simultaneous translation during the debate, but it did not succeed because of the problems that could arise due to errors in translation. Most bishops knew Latin well, but “some of the Council Fathers spoke Latin in such way, that it was difficult to understand them” – said the speaker.