development of covenantal theology. Just before and during the conciliar years, with the blessing of his order, de Lubac also began to write and publish books and articles in defense of the writings of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, his older friend and fellow Jesuit, who had died in 1955. Teilhard's ideas had influenced several of the theologians of the nouvelle théologie and had also met with extreme disfavour in Rome. Second Vatican Council In August 1960, Pope John XXIII appointed de Lubac as a consultant to the Preparatory Theological Commission for the upcoming Second Vatican Council. He was then made a peritus (theological expert) to the council itself, and later, by Pope Paul VI, a member of its Theological Commission (as well as of two secretariats). Although the precise nature of his contribution during the council is difficult to determine, his writings were certainly an influence on the conciliar and post-conciliar periods, particularly in the area of ecclesiology where one of his concerns was to understand the church as the community of the whole people of God rather than just the clergy. De Lubac's influence on Lumen gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church) and Gaudium et spes (Constitution on the Church in the Modern World) is generally recognized. Late years In 1969 Pope Paul VI, an admirer of de Lubac's works, had proposed making him a cardinal but de Lubac demurred, believing that for him to become a bishop, as required of all cardinals, would be "an abuse of an apostolic office". Paul VI, having committed to creating a Jesuit cardinal, conferred the honor on de Lubac's junior colleague Jean Daniélou instead. In the years after Vatican II, de Lubac came to be known as a "conservative theologian", his views completely in line with the magisterium – in contrast to his progressive reputation in the first part of his life. Contributing to this reputation, in 1972 de Lubac, alongside Joseph Ratzinger who later became Pope Benedict XVI, and Hans Urs von Balthasar, founded the journal Communio − a journal which acquired a reputation as offering a more conservative theology than Concilium. In 1983 Pope John Paul II offered to make de Lubac a cardinal, this time with a dispensation from being consecrated a bishop. De Lubac accepted and became the first non-bishop cardinal since the 1962 rule requiring cardinals to be bishops. In the consistory of 2 February 1983, Pope