How Did Pope John Xxiii's Response To Church Reform

We have seen that after a long historical process the Popes’ sole rule of the Catholic Church, rigidly centralized, bureaucratized and clericalized, was finally established, and continued to exist until the middle of the 20th century. Then something unexpected happened. Pope John XXIII (1958-63), the son of an Italian peasant farmer, called the Second Vatican Council in 1959 with a view to pastoral renewal and the promotion of Christian unity. The pope attributed the calling of the historic council to a sudden inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He proclaimed the principle of “aggiornamento,” that the Church should develop and change with society and history. He brought winds of change to the Vatican and the Roman Church, relaxing the stiffness
Then very regrettably, John XXIII died during the Council before the decisions of the Council were implemented and the reform was entrenched. After John’s death his successors, Paul VI and John Paul II, the curia and other traditionalist forces quickly overpowered the reform advocates, and returned the Roman Church to its old state. Their main objection was to “collegiality”, and so the Roman Catholic Church headed back toward the old days. The new popes disagreed with their predecessor John XXIII on the issue of collegiality and totally ignored him. Many Catholics are perhaps unaware that there was a gigantic struggle in the Church over the reform of the Church and that the struggle is still on-going in some ways. Among the major historic decisions made by the Council was the decision to set up the “Synod of Bishops”. The Synod was meant to be the chief structural means of change. However, the papacy has been and still is the greatest obstacle to change and to the union of the Christian churches. Pope Paul VI himself has several times admitted that the papacy, under the present aspect, is a major obstacle to the union of the