Religion: The Council's Prospects

The aim of the Second Vatican Council, which opens in Rome next month, is internal renewal of the Catholic Church. Through the council's work, Pope John XXIII hopes, the world's largest Christian church will be better prepared for the spiritual tasks of combatting Communism and materialism, and exploring the hope of union with other Christian bodies. Advocates of Catholic reform, the church's "liberals." have been worried by rumors that the council might be stalled by such standpat conservatives as the cardinals of the Curia and the bishops of Italy and Spain. "The Holy...

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