One of the announced aims of the conference was to consider reform of the liturgy, primarily to bring the layman into closer participation in the church services and therefore to encourage some diversity in language and practice. Great emphasis was also laid from the beginning upon the pastoral duties of the bishops, as distinguished from administrative duties. The procedure at the conference accorded with democratic practice, and there was lively debate between the "progressive" and "conservative" groups. By the time of its adjournment the council had issued four constitutions, nine decrees, and three declarations. The nature of these statements was conciliatory, avoiding rigid definitions and condemning anathemas.

Session II (Sept.-Dec., 1963) produced the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (permitting vernacularization of the liturgy and stressing greater lay participation in the ritual) and the decree on the media of social communication. Out of Session III (Sept.-Nov., 1964) came the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (which espoused the principle of episcopal collegiality with the pope), the decrees on ecumenism and on the Eastern Catholic churches, and the proclamation of the Blessed Virgin Mary as the "Mother of the Church."

Pope Paul VI opened Session IV (Sept.-Dec., 1965) with the announcement that he was establishing an episcopal synod to assist the pope in governing the church. That final session issued the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation and the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World; the decrees on the bishops' pastoral office, on the appropriate renewal of the religious life (i.e., the life of the religious orders), on education for the priesthood, on the ministry and life of priests, on the apostolate of the laity, and on the church's missionary activity; and declarations on Christian education, on religious freedom, and on the relationship of the church to non-Christian religions (which included an important passage condemning anti-Semitism and recognizing "the bond that spiritually ties the people of the New Covenant to Abraham's stock"). Even before the close of the council Pope Paul began to establish a series of commissions to implement the council's wide-ranging decisions.

Origins

Following the Manchurian Incident (Sept., 1931), the Japanese Kwantung army occupied Manchuria and established the puppet state of Manchukuo (Feb., 1932). Japan pressed China to recognize the independence of Manchukuo, suppress anti-Japanese activities, and form autonomous regional governments in N China. The Japanese were partially successful in 1933 and 1935 when they forced China to form two demilitarized autonomous zones bordering Manchuria.

Outbreak of War

Growing domestic opposition to the Nationalist government's policy of self-strengthening before counterattacking in N China and Manchuria led to the kidnapping of Chiang Kai-shek was kidnapped at Xi'an in Dec., 1936, by Chang Hsüeh-liang. Chiang was forced to agree to a united anti-Japanese front with the Communists as a condition for his release. The situation was tense, and in 1937 full war commenced. A clash (July, 1937) between soldiers of the Japanese garrison at Beijing and Chinese forces at the Marco Polo Bridge was the pretext for Japanese occupation at Beijing and Tianjin. Chiang Kai-shek refused to negotiate an end to hostilities on Japanese terms and placed crack troops outside the Japanese settlement at Shanghai. After a protracted struggle Shanghai and the national capital, Nanjing, fell to the Japanese. The Chinese broke the Huang He dikes (June, 1938) to slow the enemy advance. In late 1938, Hankou and Guangzhou were taken.

Japanese strategy was aimed at taking the cities, the roads, and the railroads, thereby gaining a net of control. Thus, although the Japanese by 1940 had swept over the eastern coastal area, guerrilla fighting still went on in the conquered regions. The Nationalist government, driven back to a temporary capital at Chongqing, struggled on with little help from outside. Chinese resources were inadequate, and the supplies sent over the Burma Road were far from sufficient. The Chinese cause continued to decline despite vast resistance and bloody fighting. Dubious of China's ability to sustain a protracted war, Wang Ching-wei broke with Chiang Kai-shek and established a collaborationist regime at Nanjing (1940).

World War II

The Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor brought the United States into the war and merged the Sino-Japanese War into World War II as China declared war on Japan, Germany, and Italy. American and British loans and supplies, the establishment of military air bases in China, and the aid of an increasing number of U.S. and British advisers helped relieve China as Japan diverted armies elsewhere. Nevertheless, China's military position continued to deteriorate until Apr., 1945. In May the Chinese launched a successful offensive at Zhijiang (Chihkiang) that lasted until Japanese capitulation on Aug. 14. The Japanese troops in China formally surrendered Sept. 9, 1945. By the provisions of the Cairo Declaration, Manchuria, Taiwan, and the Pescadores were restored to China.

(1962–65) 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic church, announced by Pope John XXIII. It has come to symbolize the church's readiness to acknowledge the circumstances of the modern world. Among the most notable of the 16 documents enacted were the “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,” which treats church hierarchy and provides for greater involvement of laypeople in the church; the “Dogmatic Constitution of Divine Revelation,” which maintains an open attitude toward scholarly study of the Bible; the “Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy,” which provides for the use of vernacular languages in the mass in place of Latin; and the “Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the World of Today,” which acknowledges the profound changes humanity has experienced in the modern world and attempts to relate the church to contemporary culture. Observers from other Christian churches were invited to the council in a gesture of ecumenism.

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