Council Notebooks

In the letter that Pope Francis wrote in preparation for the Jubilee Year of 2025, he said that “The four Constitutions of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, together with the Magisterium of these recent decades, will continue to provide direction and guidance to God’s holy people, so that it can press forward in its mission of bringing the joyful proclamation of the Gospel to everyone”.

In the light of this request, it was decided that a series of small, simple volumes called Council Notebooks should be produced. These are volumes written in very simple and direct language designed to attract the reader. Therefore, they are not a “comment”, but rather a short and pithy presentation of the richness of Vatican II.

In the Introduction, Pope Francis writes: “Preparing for the Jubilee Year by taking up the fundamental texts of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council is a task that I ask everyone to welcome as a moment of growth in the faith.

“I place these simple and incisive aids into the hands of all Christians, especially young people, that they may retrace the fundamental themes of the four Conciliar Constitutions.

“I hope that they will attract a wide readership and bear good fruit for the renewal of our communities. I entrust them especially to bishops, priests, catechists, and families so that they may find the best ways of making the teachings of the Council Fathers known and relevant in people’s lives, in preparation for the upcoming Jubilee 2025”.