December 8, 2025, is quickly approaching—a date marking the sixtieth anniversary of the close of the Second Vatican Council in 1965.

As a budding teenager at the time, I paid scant attention to the event, not realizing that it would come to dominate most of my life. Like many theologians, I have spent much of my career studying the council, explaining its documents, and engaging in the debates that this great synod ignited.

A few years ago, while researching a book on Vatican II, I came to an even deeper appreciation of its work. The theologians tasked with drafting and editing the documents were priests and bishops deeply dedicated to the faith—both intellectually and spiritually.

Studying their journals—particularly those of men like Yves Congar, a conciliar expert, and Gérard Philips, draftsman of *Lumen Gentium* and moderator of the crucially important Theological Commission—one quickly realizes that these theologians had devoted their lives to Christ, the gospel, and the Church.
https://www.realclearreligion.org/2025/10/27/vatican_ii_at_sixty_1143461.html