Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI has described Vatican II as “not only meaningful, but necessary,” in a letter to the president of Franciscan University at Steubenville, which is holding a conference on the former Pontiff’s theological work.

In his letter, the retired Pope says that “the need to reformulate the question of the nature and mission of the Church has gradually become apparent” in the light of the Council’s teaching. He says that “in Vatican II, the question of the Church in the world finally became the real central problem.”