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Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient His Holiness Pope John XXIII
HIS HOLINESS, POPE JOHN XXIII
Awarded by
President Lyndon B. Johnson
December 6, 1963
His Holiness Pope John XXIII, dedicated servant of God. He brought to all citizens of the planet a heightened sense of the dignity of the individual, of the brotherhood of man, and of the common duty to build an environment of peace for all human kind.
Biography
Pope John XXIII (1958-1963)
Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (1881-1963)
Pope John XXIII summoned the Italian bishops to the Roman Synod of 1959 as an anticipation of the Second Vatican Council . In a massive reaffirmation of traditional practice, the pope solemnly confirmed the use of Latin, condemned all attempts at creativity on the part of the celebrant of Holy Mass, ordered Gregorian Chant, and forbade women entry to the altar area.
The Second Vatican Council 1963-1965
The Second Vatican Council was held in Rome, convening in four sessions during the Fall each year from 1962 to 1965. It was the twenty-first ecumenical council of the Church. The council is regarded by many as the most significant religious event since the sixteenth-century Reformation and certainly as the most important of the twentieth century.
It was convened by Pope John XXIII, who set the tone for the Council in an impressive opening address and guided it through its first session. Pope Paul VI guided the Council through its final three sessions. At the very end of the final session, the Council promulgated the two documents which have become associated with the tradition of Catholic social teaching: the Declaration on Religious Freedom (Dignitatis Humanae) and the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes). It was this latter document which constituted the Council's major contribution to the tradition and which has become arguably the most influential of all the documents of Vatican II.
October 11, 1962 - Pope John XXIII opens the Ecumenical Council - Vatican 2
President George W. Bush presents Pope John Paul II the Medal of Freedom at the Vatican June 4, 2004
Tomb of His Holiness Pope John XXIII at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome courtesy of Fr. Gregory Fairbanks
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Medal History
