PEACE AND HUMANISM FRIENDS AT THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL (1962-1965)

Based on new documentation coming from the American archives of Haverford College in Pennsylvania, this article examines the participation of observers from the Church of the Friends (Quakers) at Vatican Council II (1962-1965). The Council's announcement and the innovative Magisterium of John XXIII aroused great interest in the world of non-Catholic Churches and particularly among the Friends, who had never before maintained special relations with the Roman Church. The experience of the observers, and in particular Douglas van Steere's, well documented in the reports and in a journal of sessions, reveals a progressive change in attitude, leading to the beginnings of a commission of dialogue between the Friends and the Catholic Church in the late Sixties. The delegates of the Friends followed the Council debate with interest, but in privileging the aspects which were closest to them, such as the topic of religious liberty, peace, the dialogue between religions and relations with modern culture, a less theological but more humanistic vision, which is reflected in the observers' reports. It is a key moment in the transformation of relations between these two Churches.