Vatican II and the Sign of the Times

Vatican II was the council of the "signs of the times." The conciliar documents use the expression four times. Unitatis redintegratio applauds ecumenical efforts and exhorts Catholic believers "to recognize the signs of the times and to take an active and intelligent part in the work of ecumenism." The introduction to Gaudium et spes explains that the Church "carries the responsibility of reading the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel." Dignitatis humanae describes the increasingly global recognition of religious freedom as a civil right as a "happy sign of the times." And Presbyterorum ordinis insists that priests take into account lay people's wishes, experience, and competence, so that together they may recognize "the signs of the times."