Living the Gospel in History. “Aggiornamento” and “Rinnovamento” in John XXIII

The study examines the attitude of Roncalli faced with the problem of renewal and reform of the Church. New researches tend to detect the proximity of the young Roncalli to some instances of Catholic reformers of the early twentieth century, despite the harsh condemnation of modernism by Pius X (1907). Roncalli paid attention to history, at least in part considered in terms other than those proposed by the intransigent Catholicism. The propensity of Roncalli to grasp the positive aspects of history is clearly revealed during his pontificate, as in the opening speech Gaudet Mater Ecclesia at the Vatican II Council and in other texts, but it was hampered by conservatives in the Curia.