Was Vatican II an Ecumenical Council?

[Jvlowe]

Hello,
I was not born a catholic, but converted when i was 19, and i am still learning. I converted into the faith through the SSPX, where my best friend is a priest and where my in-laws are attempting to receive the sacraments through.
My perspective of Vatican II, from my birth into the church, has been that opinion of the SSPX. However, Tim Staples and Jimmy Akin have done a fine job of defending the council. One statement that i have heard several times on Catholic Answers Live is that Vatican II was an Ecumenical Council. I have been told that it was Pastoral Council.
What is the difference between the two councils? What kind of a council was Vatican II?
And why does Vatican II fall under the one it does?

In Christ the King
James

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

Pope Saint John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council by stating:

Mother Church rejoices that, by the singular gift of Divine Providence, the longed-for day has finally dawned when–under the auspices of the virgin Mother of God, whose maternal dignity is commemorated on this feast–the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council is being solemnly opened here beside St. Peter’s tomb.

Note that it is called an Ecumenical Council in its opening address by the Holy Father. You can read it in Latin here.

The reason it has been called a “pastoral council” is that its aim was pastoral in nature. Most Ecumenical Councils in the Church’s history were convoked to rebuke specific heresies, schismatic movements, or crises. The Second Vatican Council was not convoked to combat any one specific threat, rather it sought to explain and defend the one true faith in the modern world before any particular threat emerged.

We can state truths in various ways. The Second Vatican Council sought to explain the faith in a pastoral manner, a manner in which as many people as possible (and not just theologians) could understand and comprehend.

The Second Vatican Council was indeed an Ecumenical Council.