What Relationship Between the Church and the World? The Emergence of Dialogue as a Conciliar Turning Point Between Ecclesiam Suam (1964) and Gaudium et Spes (1965)

Abstract

The Second Vatican Council framed the Church’s relationship with the world in terms of ‘dialogue’. This key concept entered into the language of the Council in the wake of Paul VI’s Encyclical Letter Ecclesiam Suam, promulgated midway through Vatican II in 1964. Taking a historical perspective, this article examines this novel emphasis on ‘dialogue’ as a turning point in the way the Church’s relationship with the world is understood. By analysing interventions by Council fathers and the successive drafts of Gaudium et Spes, the article takes stock of the dynamic interplay between Ecclesiam Suam and the conciliar proceedings. Ultimately, the emergence of ‘dialogue’ as a key conciliar concept constitutes a pivotal development at Vatican II that has been taken up in postconciliar pontificates and has received a fresh impetus in the path of synodality, as a promising framework for understanding and living out the Church’s ongoing relationship with the contemporary world.