A Journalist\u2019s Eyewitness to the Second Vatican Council VATICAN CITY \u2014 Sixty years ago, on December 8, 1965, the Catholic Church concluded one of the most transformative events in its modern history: the Second Vatican Council. For nearly four years, thousands of bishops and theologians gathered in St. Peter\u2019s Basilica to discern how the Church could speak to a world in rapid social and cultural change. Among those who witnessed it firsthand was Gianfranco Svidercoschi, a young journalist who would later become Vice Director of L\u2019Osservatore Romano, the Vatican\u2019s official newspaper. At just 25 years old, Svidercoschi experienced the Council up close \u2014 and today remains one of the few living witnesses who can recount its earliest moments. \u201cIt was truly something new, something incredible: 2,500 bishops walking across St. Peter\u2019s Square and entering St. Peter\u2019s Basilica \u2014 and you could really grasp the universality of the Church. I must say, honestly, that the real Council began that evening \u2014 on that same day, October 12, 1962 \u2014 because it was the Church speaking once again the language of the people, not the lofty, theological, philosophical language the Church had used for so many centuries. It was the language of ordinary people.\u201d That same evening, Pope John XXIII addressed the faithful gathered in St. Peter\u2019s Square. He said: \u201c\u2018Look at the moon up there in the sky, it has come to visit us,\u2019 and then he spoke about hardships, about people who weep, and he said: \u2018Go back home and give your children a kiss and a caress.\u2019 And I went back home and caressed my one-year-old son.\u201d\u2019 Svidercoschi also recalls an unforgettable moment on the Council\u2019s first day. \u201cThat morning, when the Council\u2019s work opened, I, being curious, went ahead to have a look, to exchange a few words. But then they declared \u2018extra omnes\u2019 \u2014 meaning all outsiders had to leave \u2014 and I found myself, despite running, stuck halfway inside the Basilica. I didn\u2019t know where to go, and I could feel the gaze of two gendarmes who seemed ready to take action. “So, as soon as I found an opening, I slipped away and hid inside a confessional. And there, inside that confessional \u2014 the only journalist in the world \u2014 I listened to the first debate, which was very heated, especially from the French and German bishops. They demanded that the conciliar commissions not be formed in the same way as the preparatory commissions, which had been made up entirely of Curia members.\u201d Reflecting on key figures of the era, Svidercoschi points to Cardinal L\u00e9on-Joseph Suenens, whose influence helped shape the Council\u2019s direction. \u201cFor example, Suenens, who at the end of the first session suggested how to shape the Council, distinguishing between Church ad intra \u2014 the Church in itself \u2014 and Church ad extra \u2014 the Church in its relationship with the world \u2014 which would later become the two constitutions De Ecclesia and Gaudium et Spes.\u201d Svidercoschi also makes clear that figures not only changed the course of the Council, but the course of the Church. \u201cThe Church changed because the Church as an institution was no longer what it had been before. The Bible returned once again into the hands of the people, something that had never happened before. There was the liturgical reform\u2026 The Church opened itself to the world with Gaudium et Spes, which addressed all the problems concerning the lives of men and women \u2014 life, family, justice, and also peace and war. “After 2,000 years, the Church was saying that the Jewish people \u2014 of both yesterday and today \u2014 were not responsible for the death of Jesus. I mean, today, with everything happening in the Middle East, I can no longer see these two religions, Judaism and Islam, with the same spiritual originality they once had. This is what the Council sought to address and renew \u2014 and it\u2019s important now to understand why that effort did not continue and why it\u2019s necessary today to recover what was the very foundation of the Council.\u201d Even six decades later, Svidercoschi believes Vatican II\u2019s mission remains unfinished. \u201cBecause the very fact \u2014 for example, within the Church \u2014 the relationship between the primacy of the Pope and episcopal collegiality has still not been clearly defined.\u201d And while he sees continuity between Vatican II and Pope Francis\u2019 leadership, Svidercoschi also notes the Jesuit Pope\u2019s distinctive style. \u201cFrancis has already opened many of these issues, but, being a typical Jesuit, he never fully brought them to completion. But he himself says that problems must be opened without necessarily resolving them. And now this Pope finds himself having to deal with a Church situation in which some issues need to be picked up and brought to completion, while others perhaps should not be addressed, but set aside.\u201d As one of the last eyewitnesses to the Council, Gianfranco Svidercoschi\u2019s reflections remind us of Vatican II\u2019s lasting call \u2014 to renew the Church\u2019s dialogue with the modern world, grounded in truth, mercy, and faith. Adapted by Jacob Stein. Alexey Gotovskiy contributed to this article. Produced by Alexey Gotovskiy; Camera by Alberto Basile; Video Edited by Ilaria Chimenti; Special thanks & Credits: Gianfranco Svidercoschi Receive the most important news from EWTN Vatican via WhatsApp. It has become increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social media. Subscribe to our free channel today EWTN Vatican on WhatsApp Magdalena Wolinska-Riedi Would you like to receive the latest updates on the Pope and the Vatican Receive articles and updates from our EWTN Newsletter. More news related to this article Pope Francis announces 2025 canonizations for Carlo Acutis, Pier Giorgio Frassati during Jubilee celebrations Pope Francis Set to Make Apostolic Trip to Hungary This Week Violence Against Women is Blasphemy Against God | Pope Francis and Ambassadors Call for Action Pope Francis expresses \u2018concerns\u2019 about German Synodal Way, says it threatens Church unity Pope Francis\u2019 Visit to Venice Showcases Art as Means of Encounter, Fraternity FULL TEXT: Pope Leo XIV\u2019s homily at Mass with the cardinal electors in the Sistine Chapel<\/p>\n