Ask most people who was the pope during Vatican 2 and they’ll usually give you one name. They might say John XXIII. Or maybe they remember Paul VI. Honestly, both are right, but that’s where things get a bit messy for the history books. It wasn't just one guy. It was a relay race.
Imagine trying to steer a massive, ancient ship into a hurricane while half the crew is screaming that the old way was better and the other half is demanding a new engine. That was the Second Vatican Council. It started with a jolly, elderly man everyone thought would be a "caretaker" and ended with a quiet, intellectual diplomat who had to clean up the mess when things got real.
The unexpected spark: John XXIII
St. John XXIII was elected in 1958. He was 76. The Cardinals basically thought, "He’s old, he’s nice, he won't break anything." They were wrong. Like, really wrong. Within months, he announced a global council. People were floored. There hadn't been one in nearly a century. He used the word aggiornamento—basically "bringing things up to date." He wanted to throw open the windows of the Church to let in some fresh air.
He wasn't a radical theologian. He just had this gut feeling that the Church was becoming a museum. He saw the world changing—the Cold War, the rise of technology, the sexual revolution on the horizon—and realized the Church was speaking a language nobody understood anymore. He opened the council on October 11, 1962. It was a spectacle. 2,500 bishops from every corner of the planet descended on Rome.
But here’s the thing: he only saw the first session. He died of stomach cancer in June 1963, less than a year after it started.
The man who finished the job: Paul VI
When John XXIII died, the Council technically stopped. It was over. Dead in the water. Unless the next guy decided to keep it going. Enter Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini, who became Pope Paul VI.
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If John was the "Good Pope" who smiled and hugged children, Paul VI was the "Hamlet Pope." He was indecisive because he was brilliant. He saw every side of every argument. He had the impossible task of taking John’s vague, beautiful vision and turning it into actual laws, documents, and liturgy. He reigned for the remaining three sessions of the Council, eventually closing it in December 1965.
Why it actually matters today
You might think this is just old guys in hats talking about Latin, but if you’ve ever been to a Catholic Mass where the priest faces the people and speaks in English (or Spanish, or Tagalog), you’re seeing the direct result of who was the pope during Vatican 2.
Before this, the Mass was the Tridentine Rite. Backs to the congregation. Low whispers in Latin. It was mysterious, sure, but for a lot of people, it was also alienating. Paul VI was the one who actually signed off on the new Mass (the Novus Ordo). He’s the one who had to deal with the fallout when traditionalists like Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre started a literal schism because they felt the Church was selling its soul to the modern world.
The big shifts you probably didn't know about
It wasn't just about the language of the Mass. These two popes oversaw massive changes in how the Church viewed other people.
- Non-Catholics: Before Vatican 2, the vibe was "extra Ecclesiam nulla salus"—outside the Church, there is no salvation. John and Paul shifted that toward "ecumenism." They started calling Protestants "separated brethren" instead of heretics. Big difference.
- The Jewish Community: This is huge. The document Nostra Aetate fundamentally changed the relationship. It basically said, "Hey, we can't blame the Jewish people for the death of Jesus." It sounds obvious now, but in 1965, it was a seismic shift.
- Religious Freedom: The Church used to be pretty big on "altar and throne" unions. Vatican 2 said that every human has a right to follow their conscience in religious matters.
Different perspectives: Was it a disaster or a miracle?
The debate over these two popes is still white-hot.
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Traditionalists will tell you that John XXIII opened Pandora's box. They point to the plummeting numbers of priests and nuns in the 1970s as proof that when you try to be "modern," you just become irrelevant. They think the "fresh air" John wanted turned into a hurricane that blew the roof off.
On the flip side, liberals argue that Paul VI got scared. They think he didn't go far enough. They point to his 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae—where he doubled down on the ban on artificial contraception—as the moment the Church lost the modern world. It’s a fascinating tension. John started a revolution, and Paul spent the rest of his life trying to keep it from spinning out of control.
Deep dive into the "Caretaker" myth
Let's look closer at John XXIII. He was born Angelo Roncalli, a peasant’s son. He had served as a medic and a chaplain in WWI. He had been a diplomat in Turkey and Greece during WWII, where he actually helped save thousands of Jewish people from the Holocaust by issuing "neutrality" visas.
When he became pope, he was supposed to be a placeholder. He wasn't. He visited prisoners in Rome. He visited sick kids in hospitals. He was the first pope to really use the media effectively. He was "Good Pope John." But he was also shrewd. He knew that if he didn't call the Council then, it might never happen.
Paul VI, meanwhile, was the ultimate insider. He had worked in the Secretariat of State for decades. He knew where the bodies were buried in the Vatican bureaucracy. Without his technical skill, the Council's documents—like Lumen Gentium or Gaudium et Spes—would have been a disorganized mess. He was the architect. John was the dreamer.
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What actually happened in the room?
The sessions were intense. You had bishops from Africa and Asia demanding that the Church stop acting like a branch of the European government. You had "The Rhine Group"—progressive bishops from Germany and France—clashing with the "Roman Curia" traditionalists.
Paul VI had to mediate. He would literally insert footnotes into documents to appease the conservatives while keeping the core progressive message intact for the liberals. It’s why some Vatican 2 documents feel a bit contradictory. They are products of compromise.
Actionable insights for the curious
If you want to actually understand this era without reading 2,000 pages of Latin decree, here is how you can practically explore the legacy of the popes of Vatican 2:
- Read the "Big Four" Constitutions: Specifically Lumen Gentium (about the Church) and Gaudium et Spes (about the Church in the modern world). You don't need a theology degree. Just skip to the parts about the role of "lay people"—that’s you and me. You'll see how much the language changed from "obey" to "participate."
- Watch the footage: Search for the opening of Vatican 2 on YouTube. The sheer scale of it is insane. Seeing John XXIII being carried in on the sedia gestatoria (the portable throne) while planning to modernize the very institution that put him on it is a wild visual irony.
- Visit a "Pre-Vatican 2" Church: Find a parish that still does the Latin Mass (TLM). Then go to a standard "Novus Ordo" Mass. The physical difference in the architecture and the way people interact with the altar tells the story of John and Paul better than any textbook.
- Check out the "Journal of a Soul": This is John XXIII’s diary. It’s surprisingly humble. It shows a man who was terrified of the job but did it anyway. It’s the best way to understand the "why" behind the Council.
Ultimately, the question of who was the pope during Vatican 2 isn't just a trivia point. It’s a story of two very different men who were forced to cooperate across the barrier of death to drag an ancient institution into the 20th century. Whether they succeeded or failed depends entirely on who you ask, but the world we live in now—where the Catholic Church is a global voice on human rights and social justice—is the world they built together.