''Peritus'' (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for "expert"; plural ''periti'') is the title given to Roman Catholic theologians attending an

ecumenical council An ecumenical council, also called general council, is a meeting of bishops and other church authorities to consider and rule on questions of Christian doctrine, administration, discipline, and other matters in which those entitled to vote are ...

to give advice. At the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

(also known as 'Vatican II'), some ''periti'' accompanied individual bishops or groups of bishops from various countries. Others were formally appointed advisers to the whole Council. The ''periti'' of Vatican II, although their official status designated them as at the service of the council, were most often at the service of one of the two major currents which were counterposed at the Council: on the one hand, on the side of reforms in the church (in favor of ideas such as acceptance of religious freedom, revision of church–state relations, reassessment of relations with other religions); or, on the other hand, on the side of the 'traditionalists', who generally did not support changes to doctrine or to the ways in which the Church engaged in and with the world. This latter grouping espoused a continuing clash of Catholicism with certain other institutions and more 'modern' ideas and parts of society seen as problematic, as had been seen since at least the Councils of Trent and Vatican I (this was especially true for the experts close to the major grouping of traditionalists for Vatican II, ''Coetus Internationalis Patrum'' (Group of International Fathers)). A leading reform-minded ''peritus'', Fr (later Cardinal) Yves Congar served as a consultant to the council upon the invitation of

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII (born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death on 3 June 1963. He is the most recent pope to take ...

, but was hired as personal and expert theologian (peritus) at the council to Bishop Jean-Julien Weber of Strasbourg. This allowed him to attend all the general sessions and participate in discussions of any Commission to which he was invited. Periti from the United States at Vatican II were numerous: there were 86 US theologian experts recognised altogether over the four sessions of the Council.

References

Catholic ecclesiastical titles Second Vatican Council * Canon law of the Catholic Church {{Latin-stub