(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 11 - The body of Saint Pope John XXIII was exhumed Tuesday at a Mass marking the 60th anniversary of the start of the Second Vatican Council on October 11, 1962.
    John XXIII, today affectionately known as "the good pope", called Vatican II and led it in its early stages, before his death aged 81 on June 3, 1963.
    Tuesday's Mass in St Peter's was led by Pope Francis.
    His predecessor's remains were on show in a glass case in the Basilica's nave, in front of the central altar of the Confession.
    Pope John XXIII officially opened the Second Vatican Council on 11 October 1962 during a solemn ceremony inside St. Peter's Basilica, setting in motion a 4-year event which would see the Church open her doors to the world in a process of "updating" (in Italian: "aggiornamento") for the contemporary age, Vatican news noted.
    Pope John XXIII opened Vatican II by delivering his famous 'Gaudet Mater Ecclesiae' speech, in which he indicated the main purpose of the Council.
    Nearly 2,500 Catholic cardinals, patriarchs and bishops from all over the world were present for the Council, which lasted until 8 December 1965.
    In order to connect with 20th-century people in an increasingly secularized world, some of the Church's practices needed to be improved, and its teaching needed to be presented in a way that would appear relevant and understandable to them.
    Many Council participants were sympathetic to this, while others saw little need for change and resisted efforts in that direction.
    But support for aggiornamento won out over resistance to change, and as a result the sixteen magisterial documents produced by the council proposed significant developments in doctrine and practice: an extensive reform of the liturgy, a renewed theology of the Church, of revelation and of the laity, a new approach to relations between the Church and the world, to ecumenism, to non-Christian religions and to religious freedom.
    Vatican II was record-breaking in its massive proportions, its international breadth, the scope and variety of issues it addressed, its style, and the presence of the media.
    Its impact on the Church was huge. (ANSA).