ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the reaction in the theological domain to Pope John's more tractable conception of authority, a reaction that has only been intensified, thereby placing the Church firmly back on traditional rails. Pope Benedict's categorical pronouncements need to be seen in the context of the trajectory of the Roman Catholic Church since the 1960s, a crucial period in its history. Stressing the collegial role of the world's bishops, gathered for that momentous meeting, implicitly diminished the absolute authority of the pontiff himself. Pope John's successor, Pope Paul VI largely confirmed those aspects of John's aggiornamento that had an impact neither on dogma, nor on the structures of authority in the Church. Initially, his main concern was the preservation of the outward unity of the Church. In the Roman Catholic Church, too, assertive religion of a certain kind—top-down, authoritarian—has reasserted itself.
