The teaching of the Second Vatican Council on the universal call to holiness, in Chapter 5 Lumen GentiumIt was a turning point in the Church’s awareness of the vocation that all the baptized had. But what did the Council say about Christians who experience what is traditionally known as the “state of perfection,” that is, those who are committed to religious life? The subject is the subject of Chapter 6 of the dogmatic constitution on the Church.

During the preparation of the council, the future Synod Fathers made nearly 700 separate proposals touching on a wide range of issues related to religious life. In light of this, the Theological Commission, one of the main bodies involved in the preparation of the Council, drafted a section titled “On Cases of Attaining Evangelical Excellence.” This text forms the first basis of the section that will later turn into the subject of religion. Lumen Gentiumbut it was also intended to serve as a doctrinal basis for a separate document devoted specifically to religious life, which would later become the decree. Perfectae Caritatis.

With this text, the commission wanted to respond to various voices questioning the value of religious life in the modern world. At the same time, he wanted to offer a new expression of the theological basis of this charism, which is so important for the life of the Church.

In particular, the draft places special emphasis on religious life as a way of following Christ. The text opens by stating that Christ not only gave saving principles to his Church, but also provided “the most sacred counsel” to those willing to make the way of living charity “easier” and “safer.” Against the idea that this devotion to God could somehow inhibit the development of one’s human personality, the Commission invoked the Christ model and its most perfectly human dimension to explain how religious life benefits this aspect of the person. End text Lumen Gentium will include this teaching.

The draft proposed a serious doctrine that religious life was of divine origin and was an essential element of the holiness of the Church. At the same time, focusing on religious life as a “state of evangelical perfection” can give the sense that only those in consecrated life are called to holiness.

A Council speech by Cardinal Paul-Émile Léger, archbishop of Montreal, in the fall of 1963 reminded us of the historical background behind the issue. He said that monastic holiness had long prevailed in the Church, as if it were the only model of holiness that all Christians should follow. While Cardinal Léger acknowledged the many benefits of such attention to consecrated life, he noted that such a perspective could make holiness seem fundamentally inaccessible to ordinary people.

In light of this growing awareness that holiness is for all believers, the various Council Fathers also sought to give adequate recognition to religious life. Bishop Carl Leiprecht, speaking on behalf of the German-speaking bishops, acknowledged the need for the religious to express their identity in a new way in the changing conditions of the world. He suggested a number of facts that might guide the Council on this matter. His words were probably inspired by Pope John XXIII, an extremely popular theologian at the time. He bears the influence of his advisor Hans Küng, who was an enthusiastic supporter of John’s call for reform and ecumenism. However, Küng later became known for advocating this reform in a way that was incompatible with Catholic teaching.

Bishop Leiprecht noted that all believers are called to holiness and are obliged to live the spirit of the Bible, including the spirit of evangelical counsel, and stated that the religious also make this spirit visible. Their special status, including their virginity, he argued, made them “sufficient witnesses” of the kingdom of God and the heavenly Jerusalem. As a result, he said, religious institutions are more necessary today than ever.

Pope Paul VI followed a similar theme important speech On May 23, 1964, he gave a group of religious leaders a time when the precise place for religious life in the future was determined. Lumen Gentium was still unclear.

The Pope began his speech by acknowledging that the universal call to holiness has become much more important in modern times, and he reaffirmed the importance of this teaching. However, while drawing attention to the call for universal holiness, the Pope also desired that the Church be vigilant against “the eclipse of the true concept of religious life as it has traditionally developed in the Church.”

In light of such possible confusion, especially for young people considering their preferred state in life, the Bishop of Rome wanted to remind “the inestimable importance and necessary function of religious life.” This state, defined by the profession of evangelical vows, he continued, “is a perfect way of living according to the example and teaching of Jesus Christ” and is a special orientation towards charity, unlike other ways of life.

The Pope’s speech, along with many other comments of the Council Fathers, would be echoed in the final text of the chapter. After extensive deliberation, the Council Fathers would vote by a majority of more than two-thirds in favor of separating a specifically religious section, as distinguished from the section on the more general call to holiness.

In response to many requests, the Council articulated more precisely the nature of religious vocation, drawing especially on the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas. The defining element of this profession is Lumen Gentium states, oathsor sacred bonds, like vows, by which the faithful bind themselves to the observance of the three Evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Thanks to such a profession, a person reaches a new state. As the text says, the consecrated person is “appointed to the honor and service of God under a new and special title.”

Here the Council also called for recognition of the consecration of all the faithful to God through baptism. However, through religious oblation one has the ability to reap “more abundant fruit” from the grace of baptism and is freed from the obstacles to charity.

Lumen Gentium it also emphasizes how this unique devotion to God leads to a special union of the religious with the Church and its mystery.

The Council emphasized that those who pursue religious life, even though they are in the minority, are a source of inspiration for everyone in the Church and also for humanity. Their devotion “stands out as a sign that can and should attract all members of the Church to effectively and promptly fulfill the duties of the Christian profession.” This chapter also draws attention to the duty of the Church hierarchy to regulate religious life, while also expressing the hierarchy’s desire to respect the special charisma present in every religious order.

In this brief but rich chapter, the Council offered an illuminating response to those uncertain about the role of religious life in the modern world. The Council came to a better understanding that the changing conditions of the times and the growing awareness of the call to holiness among all the baptized did not diminish the identity of this particular vocation in the Church. Such factors, in fact, make it all the more urgent for the religious to insist on their special calling, as the Council exhorts them to do at the end of the chapter “for the increased holiness of the Church” and “for the greater glory of the Church.” one and indivisible Trinity…”