ABSTRACT
The Second Vatican Council opened on November 11, 1962 and concluded on December 12, 1965. Materialism and atheism were widespread. For the new pope it was imperative to bring the eternal and life-giving power of the Gospel to the modern world. One of the most important tasks of the Catholic Church was to assist ordinary society in the work of solving social, cultural and political problems. In regards to how the council is to be understood, Pope Benedict XVI launched his hermeneutic of continuity in 2005. This was a particular view of how the council perceived its function in the life of the Church. The main issue for the Second Vatican Council was to change and renew the Church, to bring it up to date, so that it might enter into a new relationship to the modern world with its culture and social life.
