To Sanctify the World: The Vital Legacy of Vatican II

by George Weigel

A leading Catholic intellectual explains why the teachings of the Second Vatican Council are essential to the Church's future—and the world's The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) was the most important Catholic event in the past five hundred years. Yet sixty years after its opening on October 11, 1962, its meaning remains sharply contested and its promise unfulfilled. In To Sanctify the World, George Weigel explains the necessity of Vatican II and explores the continuing relevance of its teaching in a world seeking a deeper experience of freedom than personal willfulness. The Council’s texts are also a critical resource for the Catholic Church as it lives out its original, Christ-centered evangelical purpose. Written with insight and verve, To Sanctify the World recovers the true meaning of Vatican II as the template for a Catholicism that can propose a path toward genuine human dignity and social solidarity.

Genres: History, Religion, Theology, Catholic, Christianity, Nonfiction, Cultural

368 pages, Hardcover

Published October 4, 2022

About the author

American author and political and social activist. Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Weigel was the Founding President of the James Madison Foundation.

Each summer, Weigel and several other Catholic intellectuals from the United States, Poland, and across Europe conduct the Tertio Millennio Seminar on the Free Society in Krakow, in which they and an assortment of students from the United States, Poland, and several other emerging democracies in Central and Eastern Europe discuss Christianity within the context of liberal democracy and capitalism, with the papal encyclical Centesimus Annus being the focal point.

He is a member of the advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.

Reviews

[Sara Lowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went into this book with an extremely caricatured knowledge of Vatican II and very little background on the philosophers/theologians/historical events mentioned in the book. It definitely felt like a bit of a slog to get through at times but I would recommend it to any practicing Catholic or anyone interested in the Catholic Church. It really helped me to understand and appreciate the gift of Vatican II, despite our difficulty to implement it in its fullness, and the importance of the Church outlining the universal and Christocentric call to holiness, genuine freedom, and authentic human community.

[Rachel Wong · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dense and expansive book that breaks open in great detail the periods of pre, during, and post-Vatican II. I appreciated Weigel setting the political, social and economic context that V2 found itself in as John XXIII convened it, as well as the breaking open of the sixteen texts that came from the Council and further analysis on a question that has divided many to this day: how do we understand Vatican II?

As someone who is far removed from the period of the Council, I live in an era of Catholicism where the Council is a serious point of contention. The call that Weigel makes for all to seriously study and learn what was actually taught at V2 is one that should be taken seriously by all Catholics, but above all, the call to understand more deeply the Christocentric theme that was implicit at the beginning and was woven through the Council: to put Christ at the centre of all things and understanding Christ as ruler and answer of all things.

While Weigel does an excellent job of breaking open the major texts of V2, I would say that it would be easier if you have read parts or all of some of the seminal texts that are discussed, particularly the four major ones (Dei Verbum, Lumen Gentium, Gaudium et Spes, and Sacrosanctum Concilium) for the sake of context. With the other 12, Weigel arranges them by theme and discusses them in more succinct fashion.

Certainly a book that I’ll need to return to again!

[Andrea Engle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This detailed analysis of the impact of the Vatican II Council of the Roman Catholic Church (held from 1962 to 1965) reveals so much, and aids the non-Catholic in understanding this seminal event … very perceptive, especially so in dealing with the subsequent teachings of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, who both were heavily involved in the Council itself … enlightening …

[Leila Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a lot to unpack here. In many ways, this book is quite similar to John W. O'Malley's "What Happened at Vatican II". A large part of this book is simply a summary of what the council documents say. If you have already read O'Malley, then you can probably skip over this book.

I was really hoping, when I saw the title of this book, that Weigel was going to convince me why Vatican II was absolutely necessary and how it has done so much good for the Church. In many ways this book is beautifully written, but it didn't enlighten me as much as I was hoping it would. Weigel writes beautifully when describing the faith of the Church and its hopes for the 3rd millenium, with many wonderful quotes about how men and women were made for communion with God, and God came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ in order to draw us into an encounter with him, and then we are to go spread this love to others and share the gifts that we have been given. It is very inspirational. And the documents of Vatican II are like that. They have very good, profound things to say about our relationship with God and His Church. However.....like many people my age (I'm a millennial), I am skeptical about the so-called good that Vatican II has done for the church. It is true that there is nothing wrong or incorrect in the documents, but the overall effect it has had decades later does not seem to be very positive.
Let's back up and look at some of the key points Weigel makes about why the Council was called: "...if Catholicism were to have any impact in a world that imagined it had outgrown religious faith, it could not go on repeating the formulas that had failed to make any dent on the ideologies of modernity" (43).
"For faith in a modern world, the ressourcement thinkers grasped, could not be just an assent to propositions, and agreement to syllogisms, or a surrender to ecclesiastical authority" (52).
And as Ratzinger himself said, "there can be no return to the Syllabus, which may have marked the first stage in the confrontation with [the ideologies of modernity] but cannot be the last stage" (qtd. 295). Weigel adds, "Neither a Church uncritically embracing modernity nor a Church content to live in a religious ghetto of its own construction could solve for Christians the problem of the modern world" (295).
That pretty much sums it up.
But did Vatican II usher in a new springtime of the Church? Did it convert masses and masses of people? Did it renew the faith of the Church and equip its members for mission?
Not exactly. Not by a long shot! And I wish Weigel had discussed that more. The argument he makes is that the Church needed to have something to say in the face of modernity and rampant atheistic humanism. Fair enough. But Vatican II is so long and prolix, and so is the Catechism. What Catholic is going to take the time to not only read those texts, but memorize important sections? Why did things start to fall apart so badly after the Council? That is one question I have always wondered about, because I was not alive in the 50s and 60s, nor even in the 70s and 80s. If Vatican II has equipped us with the answers to modernity, why are Catholics so poorly catechized? Why have Catholic schools stopped caring about the faith? Why are homilies so bland and vapid? Why do most Catholics, statistically, not embrace all the doctrines that the Church teaches? Could it be, maybe, that some of the institutions set up in the centuries before the 1960s were not so bad after all?

Of course, the issue that gets everyone's tempers flared is the liturgical reform. I also wish Weigel had talked about that more! He says, "A renewed, liturgically centered, and vibrant Church would, the Liturgical Movement's leaders believed, both deepen the conversion of the Church's people to Christ and help bring the leaven of the Gospel to the world [...] the liturgy is the Church's most powerful instrument for the spiritual rebirth of society at large" (49). Ok, but hasn't the Church always been liturgically-centred? And isn't it sad, that the reform of the liturgy in no way lived up to those high hopes? I mean, what went wrong? Many Novus Ordo liturgies make the faith seem like a joke, or as Anthony Esolen put it, something that we will look back on later in life with about as much seriousness with which we remember a cartoon. Weigel says that Sacrosanctum Concilium describes the liturgy as "an anticipation of life within the Kingdom of God in its fullness" (151). If that's the case, why ever did the Church change from the beautiful Tridentine Liturgy to the dumbed down Novus Ordo with horrible music, no Latin to speak of, versus populum, and people who must be constantly drawing attention to themselves? In fact, Weigel admits that the reform was "an impoverished response to modernity's loss of a sense of the sacred" and that "the teaching of Sacrosanctum Concilium remains to be properly implemented in full". He also criticizes versus populum, saying "it is difficult to pray the liturgy as an anticipation of the Kingdom of God in its fullness when celebrant and congregation are facing each other rather than reaching out together, as a pilgrim Church in history, for the consummation of history in the return of the Lord in glory". The thing is, all these tantalizing tidbits are hidden in a footnote! (#29, chapter 12). The best part of the book is tucked away in a footnote that many readers probably will never look at. Such a shame. Furthermore, if Vatican II affirmed the role of the laity as instruments for the sanctification of the world and people called to mission and to the spreading of the Gospel (138), then why do bishops routinely ignore the requests from the laity for the Tridentine Mass, or for just better liturgy in the Novus Ordo? Why does Pope Francis persecute those attached to the pre-conciliar liturgy? Why do they not listen to us and help us in our efforts to become more holy and make the Mass more reverent and fitting for the worship of the Triune God? It is truly baffling. I do not understand why this situation is allowed to persist.

It is true the Council said many important things about the current age, and clarified some areas that needed to be discussed. But has it borne fruit? I don't know. Maybe things would have been even worse without it. Weigel hints at times that Vatican II helped stem the tide of liberal theology and extreme, new, wacky fads that were sweeping the world by storm. Maybe things would've been even more out of control without the Council. Maybe we simply need to rediscover the Council and implement it in full. But how will we do that? And why can't we have the Latin Mass?

[Matt Lenzen · Rating 5 out of 5]

As one of the most divisive subjects in the Roman Catholic Church from the past century, Vatican II commentaries, while trying to be unbiased, are usually rife with their authors own opinions. In To Sanctify the World, Weigel presents the history of the Council as neutrally as I have read. He unpacks the history leading up to the council, the official documents themselves, as well as the extra-conciliar accounts of the bishops and theologians who wrote the documents. These especially give context to the media nightmare that ensued and also shed light on what the writers themselves were thinking.

Finally, I appreciate that Weigel closes the book with his "keys to the Council", which dives into the papal encyclicals and synods written in the sixty years since. Although Vatican II will likely continue to divide the Church for another generation, Weigel leaves us with a hopeful note: each of the 20 ecumenical councils that preceded Vatican II were just as controversial. With a little bit of time, the Church continues on, better and more Christ-focused than it was before.

[Lori Kincaid Rassati · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I received this book at a reading by Dr. Weigel. As a Catholic convert of the last decade and an employee of a Catholic seminary, I have found myself perplexed by the culture wars which many Catholics seem to fight over VII and wanted to understand it better. Dr. Weigel's explanation and analysis of the various components not only helped me understand the culture wars better, but it gave me a framework to better understand my Faith. What a gift! I encourage anyone who wants a better understanding of the writings and context of Vatican II to read this book. I intend to purchase copies to give to others.

[PadreHey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is extremely helpful for those of us who did not live through the Second Vatican Council. It helps to place the events in the history of the Church as well as God's guiding hand. It also has a very efficient explanation of each document as well as a useful way to interpret the events following the Council.

[George Shoemaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

proper reading

If both liberal and conservative Catholics would read the Vatican II
documents with the proper keys we would have oneCatholic Church rather than an L & C Catholic Church

[Michael G. Zink · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Second Vatican Council, commonly referred to as Vatican II, is often misunderstood. Pope John XXIII stunned the Catholic world - and much of the rest of the world - in 1959 when he summoned an ecumenical council that he hoped would lead the Catholic Church to sanctify the world through Christocentric evangelism and mission.

Please do not be put off by sentences like that one. Mr. Weigel, a well known Catholic intellectual and prolific writer, demystifies the theological debates that unfolded during the four sessions of the Second Vatican Council, held from 1962 through 1965. He grounds his narrative in these dialogues, and the important documents that Vatican II produced. He does a fine job helping the general reader understand the key messages embedded in those documents, especially the essential constitutions such as Dei Verbum, Lumen Gentium, and Gaudium et Spes.

Even more helpful, Mr. Weigel places Vatican II in its proper context. This was the 21st ecumenical council in the two-thousand year history of the Catholic Church, and he helps the reader understand the role and importance of these councils. Mr. Weigel does a fine job throughout the book of keeping Pope John XXIII’s original intentions in focus. The book is divided into three sections. The third section explains the controversies and misunderstandings that emerged in the decades after Vatican II ended, and the critical influence of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI in embedded within the Catholic Church the essential message that Vatican II places Christ at the center (the term Christocentric appears frequently throughout the book), that every member of the Church is a full member of the Mystical Body of Christ, and that a personal encounter with Christ is our goal.

Vatican II has often been misunderstood but may be better understood now than when it closed. As my parish Pastor commented a few weeks ago, it has only been sixty years and it takes time for messages this profound to work their way into the fabric of a two-thousand year old institution that is global in scale, with 1.3 billion believers.

If the book has a major flaw, it is Mr. Weigel’s seemingly unwavering antipathy towards Pope Francis I, whose papacy is now ten years old. Mr. Weigel is a passionate advocate for Pope John Paul II and the theologian Pope Benedict XVI but he has never warmed to the pastoral focus of the kindly Pope Francis, who is never once mentioned in these three hundred pages of prose. The book is weaker for that glaring omission. Mr. Weigel eloquently emphasizes at the end of the book that Pope John XXIII original intent of the “aggiornamento” - or bringing up to date” - of the Catholic Church must always be a process of “approfondimento continuo” - constant deepening. No matter who wears the Shoes of the Fisherman.

[Joe A · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember first "encountering" the author in his biography of, now, St John Paul II, "Witness to Hope." It was a fresh and enduring testimony to the life of one of the Modern World's most beloved Christian figures.

I have listened to Mr. Weigel give lectures on various topicalities over the years, since then, and they are usually quite good with sometimes exceptional question and answer periods.

But his other books, over the years, have always felt a bit more like a lecture that was too short to be a book, so a lot of other things were added to it, to give it a greater page count.

This book, sadly, is very similar. And while I appreciate its topicality...especially in light of the recent passing of one my favorite Christian Intellectuals, Benedict XVI...it feels a bit too much of a book that reminisces (granted it was written in honor of the 60th anniversary of Vatican II) a bit too much on all too familiar stories and the true message of the book gets lost throughout the pages of the book only to find its way in the final two chapters to something of a conclusion that also gets a bit lost in the abundance of words.

I guess I was hoping for a bit more of a roadmap, of sorts, as to how to get out of the swampy mire that has been festering slowly over the past 60 years, but with even greater rapidity in the past 10 years or so. For me, that would have been a way to ensure that the appropriate message/legacy of Vatican II has a chance to be rediscovered anew by a new generation of Christians as we come to grips with the failure of post-modern atheism and the palpably growing dissatisfaction with the more "modern" solutions that have been offered to the world over the past 50+ years by those who sought to rebel (protest, even) against the Judeo-Christian ethic and morality that didn't offer them the "true freedom" that they so desperately craved.

All in all, it was good enough to get me to read/listen to, but I'm not sure of its efficaciousness, as it were, towards a better understanding of the vital legacy of Vatican II.

[Jose Luis]

George Weigel's observation early on in the text seems to me the greatest piece of wisdom overall:

Relitigating those arguments [already settled by past pontificates that settled the debate over what Vatican II taught and how that teaching should be embodied in the Church's pastoral practice]... is not healthy. A Catholic Church endlessly debating what Vatican II meant is a Church disempowered in its proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and disengaged from its service to an ever more fractious postmodern world.

The parts of this book that discuss Vatican II as a historical event and explore the motivations behind Vatican II were very interesting.

A major call to action of the book is to read the documents of Vatican II, and section II is dedicated to summarizing and explaining some of the key docs. I did skip a lot of this commentary since a reading on my own of the docs seems to be required to properly evaluate the text. These are sections to come back to in the future.

The last chapters on John Paull II and Benedict XVI as definitive interpreters of the reforms made sense. Identifying the Catechism of the Catholic Church as a summary and guide to Vatican II Catholic teaching seems healthy and correct.

I've never been to a Traditional Latin Mass. But when I learn about the riches of that time before Vatican II, I wonder at why we had to change. When I read and meditate on Weigel's arguments about the need for the Church to redefine itself in a post-Christian world, the reasoning makes sense as well.

At times the argument feels forced because, as Weigel himself says at some point near the beginning of the book, we are still settling into the reformed Church. Modern man is used to living so quickly. But the Church is a conservative institution.

The cultural revolution in the West definitely did not help in terms of timing when it came to reform in the Church. Good analysis on this disasterous combo can be explored in-depth in David Carlin's The Decline and Fall of the Catholic Church in America.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Honestly, I don’t think Vatican 2 has been fully received, especially because I’ve only recently made an effort to encounter it in my own life. A priest at my parish is hosting talks on Acts and the journey to Rome, Catholicism’s relationship with modernity. I’m ready to receive the second Vatican council in my heart. If I had to pick out an idea from the book is that we need to share the friendship we find with Jesus Christ. That first requires us to have friendship with Jesus. We need to continuing deepening our faith. Especially as an American, I see conflict around me in relation to Vatican 2. Now I know this is to be expected. My heart is now open for Vatican 2. Thank you George Weigel.

[David Selsby · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the writing of George Weigel I've encountered in the religious journal First Things. I liked "To Sanctify the World." It was systematically written, going over the key documents of the Second Vatican Council. The first part of the book did a nice job of setting the stage for what was going on in the world that precipitated various crises for the world Church and Western cultures in general.

I enjoyed the first 50/75 pages of the book most where he set the stage. Once Weigel got into systematically going though all the documents of the council, I liked it; it was through.

What a lifeless review this is.

The bottom line is I'm loathe to write anything negative about Weigel because even though I disagree with some of the things he's written in First Things about the Russia/Ukraine War, I like most of what he writes about religion and the Catholic Church. But the truth is I kind of sped through this book on autopilot, probably because after the first 75 pages, there was a monotony to the way he went through the documents of the council. The descitpons lacked verve. This is not to say he needed to add more controversy or make things more divisive than they were, but rather just that the prose didn't have much pizazz to it. Oh well.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really appreciated this book on Vatican II. I read the major constitutions, and Blake Britain’s reclaiming Vatican II first for a good foundation. Once again, George Weigel gives a wonderful cultural, philosophical and historical context for all the foundations of Vatican II: what was intended and made some analysis of what happened through the responses of John Paul the second and Benedict the 16th I personally feel like this book perfectly advocates for the mission of Regnum Christi.

[Irene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Using the interpretive lens of Pope John XXIII’s pre-conciliar statements and the documents produced by Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI, the author argues that the texts of the Second Vatican Council are neither reactionary nor radical, but rather the stating of eternal Catholic teaching in a way accessible to the faithful of the 20th century. This is not a close reading of the texts and did not break any new ground.

[Joseph Pearce · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting book and perspective. The first part dealing with St. John XXIII's vision was excellent and eye opening. The work at the council documents was good. The conclusion was overly optimistic.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent summary and explanation of Vatican II.

[Sparky Shelton · Rating 3 out of 5]

You ask a silly question, you get a silly answer

[Natnael Tefera Mulatu · Rating 5 out of 5]

More Catholics should read this.