One of the more significant points of evolution in Church teaching that emerged from the Second Vatican Council was that on the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was an evolution, however, that came with considerable gnashing of teeth and a most emotional debate.

The authority of the college of bishops was not only one of the most important issues discussed at the Second Vatican Council, it was also among the most controversial.

In looking back on the Second Vatican Council, it appears so natural that the council met for about two months every fall from 1962 through 1965.

The first session of the Second Vatican Council in the fall of 1962 had opened a deep fissure between the Vatican's Italian-dominated Curia and the bishops and council fathers who had come from around the world.