Vatican II, fifty years later

This article starts from a situation of great importance in the subsequent evolution of the Council within the Church: the existence of conservative minority represented by the Roman Curia, strategically present within the preparatory commissions. Tensions between reformers and conservatives led to ambiguous documents and announced new issues to which the papal tradition was opposed. Next to the Council represented in terms of renewal of the Church, the article traces the profile of another change that took place in Western history: the Cultural Revolution represented symbolically by 1968. The revolution meant a radical critique of all established institutions, and all systems of authority. The Cultural Revolution (marked by the discovery of the pill and the feminist explosion) also put into question the dogmas and values of the Church. Concomitantly, changes in the capitalist mode of production devaluated the work and encouraged consumption. In crisis and discredited by the impact of cultural changes, the Church responded with a "return to the great discipline". In Latin America, where the reception of the Council promised auspicious fruits, timid reforms remained. Given this, the reflection proposed by the article points out the way of hope for living the faith.