The Truth about the Second Vatican Council and the Decline of the Catholic Church – #part 1

Virtually the entire orientation of the Church has changed. Since Vatican II, there has been a new canon law, a new catechism, a new liturgical calendar, a new translation of the Bible, new canonization procedures, new rites of ordination and baptism, new exorcism procedures, and even the rite of the mass. It was changed to better adapt to new times.

Of course, not all of this was changed during the Council. Still, Vatican II can be considered an impetus for such changes.

These changes were so profound in how the Catholic Church relates to its faithful and to the world that some began to refer to it as the post-conciliar Church. Christ once said that you know the tree by its fruits.

Second Vatican Council - Image Source

What were the fruits of the Council? Anyone with the slightest sense of reality realizes that since Vatican II, the Church has suffered wear and tear never before seen in history.

For educational reasons, let's take Brazil as an example. According to the 2010 census, the IBGE reported that the number of Catholics in Brazil fell from 93% in 1960, shortly before the start of the Council, to 64% in 2010, almost 50 years after the event.

Celebration of the Day of Our Lady of Aparecida - Brazil - Image Source

Brazil still remains the most Catholic country in the world in absolute numbers. Still, the Catholic Church in Brazil has been losing much ground. There is no longer that religious fervor on the part of Catholics as there was in the time of our parents and grandparents. Moral decadence is not even discussed, and this phenomenon translates into a mass apostasy of the faithful.

In general, Catholicism is being left aside in Brazil. So, either people abandon religion altogether or, in the best-case scenario, they fall into religious indifferentism. Those who still want some approach to God feel that it is better to join one of the thousands of evangelical and Pentecostal sects, which, with each day, become more popular.

What is said about Brazil can apply to a greater or lesser extent to most of the West, subject to the necessary peculiarities. As a rule, everywhere the Catholic Church is in crisis, and above all, this is an identity crisis.

Second Vatican Council - Image Source

Of course, I will not be categorical here in saying that the Second Vatican Council is solely responsible for the decline in the number of Catholics in the West. The phenomenon of Secularization had already been occurring long before him. Still, this process was clearly accelerated thanks to the Council. The intention here is not to discuss the side effects of Vatican II itself but rather the Council's essence.

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to be continued...

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Thanks for reading!


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