What is referred to as the “Black Week” in the recent history of Catholic Church?

Question

What is commonly referred to as the “Black Week” in regards to the Second Vatican Council in the recent history of Catholic Church?

Did it have a standing effect on the administration of the Church?

Answer 1

What is referred to as the “Black Week” in regards to the Second Vatican Council in the recent history of Catholic Church?

This expression of ”Black Week” is a term that is sometimes used to denote the happenings of the last week of the third session of the Second Vatican Council. It is called ”Black Week”, because it witnessed three interventions that shaped the drama of the council in the minds of many participants and observers. The first intervention came from the Theological Commission at the behest of the pope. This is known as the most dramatic week of the whole Council.

The council was opened on 11 October 1962 by John XXIII (pope during the preparation and the first session), and was closed on 8 December 1965 by Paul VI.

The week of November 14–21 [1964] became known as the Black Week, because it witnessed three interventions that shaped the drama of the council in the minds of many participants and observers. The first intervention came from the Theological Commission at the behest of the pope. The Commission had inserted a note into the document on the Church that addressed the issue of episcopal collegiality. To some of the more conservative bishops, the notion of collegiality was dangerously reminiscent of the conciliarist position (revived as Gallicanism in France in the nineteenth century) from the later medieval and early modern periods. The note reinforced the primacy of the pope in relation to the bishops and circumscribed the collegiality of the bishops with the power of the pope. Although the concerns of the note were addressed in the third chapter in the document on the Church, the note was introduced on behalf of the minority in an effort to secure the widest possible approval of the document as it was presented to the council for a vote. The second intervention came from the Council of Presidents, a group of cardinals whose role had been sharply reduced at the council. They announced that the vote on the document on religious freedom was not going to take place, much to the dismay of the council fathers. The allegation was that recent revisions to the document were so substantial that the document had to be debated and discussed more. The third intervention that defined the Black Week came from the pope himself. He had made some twenty modifications to the document on ecumenism (the relationship between various Christian churches) without allowing time for discussion of the document.

This last week of the third session, the Black Week, epitomized the council in many ways. The council was a contentious meeting; there were battles, maneuverings, and procedural stunts, which is not uncommon. Church councils have always been lively and unwieldy events. Perhaps this is the reason they are held so seldom—participants do not necessarily know how they will all work out in the end. Although the third session was marked by significant controversy, it also heralded several important achievements, including the promulgation of the Lumen gentium and the [Unitatis redintegratio[(https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19641121_unitatis-redintegratio_en.html) (Decree on Ecumenism). - Events at the Second Vatican Council

Wikipedia has the following to say about the “Black Week” of the Second Vatican Council:

At the beginning of the last week of the Third Session (Monday, 16 November), the schemas on the Church and on Ecumenism were ready for final approval that week, and that on Religious Freedom was almost there. But the Council Fathers were about to experience the most dramatic and disturbing week of the whole Council. The reformers nicknamed it “Black Week”.

These three schemas were still being opposed by a dogged group of conservatives. Because they did not have the votes to prevent final approval, their only recourse was to lobby Pope Paul to prevent their adoption in their present form. The pressure on the Pope was unrelenting, and eventually he gave in.

Some effects on the administration of the Church were seen, after this historical week, such as the upgrading of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (1960) into a permanent Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity in 1966, after the Council had ended.