Catholicism in Modern Ireland – Ellen Coyne’s Are You There, God? It’s Me, Ellen

Few phrases from the Second Vatican Council fall more readily from the lips of those familiar with it than ‘signs of the times’. Christmas 1961 saw its first use in a conciliar context, when in his message convening the Council the following year, Pope St John XXIII reminded people that Christ has not left the world he redeemed, and recommended ‘that one should know how to distinguish the signs of the times’.1