It now fell to Paul VI to authorize its continuation and to preside over it through three more sessions. Montini's previous reputation would have seen him acting far more in continuity with the conservative, cautious ways of Pius XII than with the bold and disruptive styles of John XXIII. Yet, though he always remained conservative and cautious, he did help create a climate in which the bishops undertook actions that promoted
aggiornamento, the creative shaking up and rearrangement that John had hoped for from the council.
Through the three remaining sessions, council decrees supported ecumenism, a more open attitude toward other religions (Nostra aetate), a collegiality of a sort that implied a sharing of papal power with the bishops, and many internal reforms. Paul seemed to sense more than did many of the reformers that it would not be easy to administer and lead a church in transition to the modern world. While Paul shared a passion to make the church at home in this world, he also felt distanced from secular life and warned against an easy embrace for contemporary value.
Though Paul VI was instinctively reluctant to be an iconoclast, his papacy did initiate many practices that assured continuance of conciliar styles.
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