Second Vatican Council

From 11 October 1962 to 8 December 1965, in four sessions. It approved 16 documents: four constitutions (Sacrosanctum Concilium on the liturgy, Lumen gentium on the Church, Dei Verbum on revelation and Gaudium et spes on the Church in the modern world), nine decrees (among them Unitatis redintegratio on ecumenism) and three declarations (among them Dignitatis humanae on religious freedom and Nostra aetate on non-Christian religions). It allowed wide use of vernacular languages in the liturgy and opened ecumenical dialogue; Orthodox and Protestant observers attended.

Convoked by

Pope John XXIII; continued and closed by Paul VI

Catholic Church only (twenty-first ecumenical council).