The late theologian Gerard Mannion called the Roman Catholic Church’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, or “Gaudium et Spes,” the most impactful Second Vatican Council document for the church’s relationship with the wider world.
The document turns 60 years old on Dec. 7, coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council ending on Dec. 8. The anniversary offers an opportunity to reflect not just on what it says, but on the young papacy of Leo XIV.
The most challenging thing about “Gaudium et Spes” is the most subtle part of its name — the word “in.” The church was born in a hostile Roman Empire where persecution compelled Christians to keep themselves apart from the world. After Christianity was adopted by Rome, the church began to collaborate with civil authority, but the church’s authority always was understood as greater.
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