W hen Pope John XXIII called for the Second Vatican Council in 1959, he did not know fully what would be its outcome. He had an instinct, an inspiration taken on the basis of prayer and reflection that the Catholic Church needed aggiornamento, a bringing up-to-date, a manner in which its message of hope and salvation would be more relevant and effective in today’s society. Good Pope John, as he was called, died six months after the beginning of the Council in 1962 so did not live to see the dramatic development in the governance of the Church to fresh ecumenical outreach and a new way of being church in our modern world – and much else.