Roman Catholics: The Right to Worship According to One's Conscience

The Vatican Council last week moved closer to the beginning of a vast change in both the spirit and structure of the Roman Catholic Church. In a series of decisive votes, the 2,500 assembled prelates approved the principle of episcopal collegiality—thereby affirming that as a body they govern and teach the entire church in union with the Pope. They thus restored to Catholicism a sense of fraternal authority that had been lost during the development of an all-powerful papacy and foreshadowed a gradual diminishment of the Roman Curia's power.

In the eyes of many observers, the council seems finally to be coming to fruition. The first session saw a well-mannered power struggle between contending ecclesiastical viewpoints, and the gradual unfolding of progressive strength; the second was bogged down by papal indecision and defensive parliamentary maneuvering by Curial forces. But by the end of the third session's second week, the bishops had taken 37 votes on sections of the 219-page schema De Ecclesia (On the Church), rushed through discussion of two other chapters, started debate on a schema outlining the duties of bishops, and drafted declarations concerning religious liberty and antiSemitism. So much was being prodded through the lengthened daily sessions that an African bishop complained: "I feel like a nun who has lost her place in her missal."

Smooth Sailing. In part, the brisk pace of the session was due to the businesslike approach of four cardinal moderators. Last fall they were often hesitant and unsure; now they are quick to cut off speakers who go be yond their allotted ten minutes or stray from the point. But there was a more important reason for the council's smooth sailing: the growing sense of community and mutual responsibility among the bishops, and the emergence of a theological consensus that is prudently but overwhelmingly progressive. It is now clear that a vast majority of the prelates reject the abstract, legalistic theological language that has been spoken by Rome since the Council of Trent and favor a more pastoral, Scripture-centered approach.

Sensing that the council is finally going their way, the bishops appear more confident of themselves, more inclined to treat Curial prelates as anachronistic staff officers rather than superiors. There was also a new tone in the bishops' references to Pope Paul VI, in which respect for his position was tempered by realistic appraisals of his qualities. Some bluntly described him as "afraid," "so sensitive," "in need of our help." "Let's face it," said one Australian bishop. "He's weak."