Pope Leo XIV met this week with one of the last surviving bishops who participated in the Second Vatican Council, which concluded in 1965. The encounter, reported by Aleteia, marks a rare connection between the Church’s present leadership and the historic assembly that shaped modern Catholic life. Fewer than a handful of Council Fathers remain alive today, making such meetings increasingly precious witnesses to continuity across six decades.
What happened
The meeting took place at the Vatican between Pope Leo XIV and a bishop who was among the 2,625 Council Fathers assembled by St. John XXIII beginning in 1962. The Second Vatican Council ran through four sessions until 1965 under St. Paul VI, producing sixteen documents that addressed the Church’s relationship with Scripture, liturgy, ecumenism, and the modern world.
Most Council participants were bishops in their forties or fifties at the time. Today, the youngest would be over ninety. The precise number still living is difficult to confirm, but Vatican watchers estimate fewer than ten remain worldwide.
Full details of the meeting are available in Aleteia’s original report.
Why this matters
Vatican II was the most significant Church council since Trent (1545-1563). Its constitutions on divine revelation (Dei Verbum) and the Church (Lumen Gentium) remain foundational to Catholic theology. Its liturgical reforms brought the Mass into vernacular languages. Its declaration on religious freedom (Dignitatis Humanae) and its document on the Church in the modern world (Gaudium et Spes) reframed how Catholics engage secular society.
As the generation that experienced Vatican II firsthand passes, the Church faces a challenge of memory. Pope Leo XIV’s meeting with a Council Father is itself a form of witness, a tangible link between the conciliar reforms and the Church’s ongoing life under his pontificate.
For Catholic readers
If you have never read a Vatican II document in full, this week is a good time to start. Lumen Gentium (on the nature of the Church) or Sacrosanctum Concilium (on the liturgy) are both accessible entry points. Both are available free at vatican.va.
Sources:
1. Aleteia — original report
