18 PIOTR H. KOSICKI
though this volume does not hold fast to that binary, it repre-
sents an immensely useful starting point.
The bishops from behind the Iron Curtain may have been few
in number, but many of them defied expectations in ways that
had important consequences, both for the Council and for their
home countries. On certain issues, they voted “progressively” as
often as they did “conservatively”—as in the case of Polish bish-
ops splitting in October 1964 over whether or not to recognize
Mary as “Mother of the Church.”50 On others, they resoundingly
chose the “progressive” option—as in the cases of Hungarian,
Polish, and Yugoslav bishops voting in October 1963 on the prin-
ciple of “collegiality,” which gave the bishops co-authority over
the Church, in collaboration with the pope.51
Even more telling than episcopal voting patterns, however,
are the complex interactions both within Catholic populations in
Iron Curtain countries and between those populations and the
Holy See. As a result, as important as what happened in Rome
between 1962 and 1965 are national-level debates on aggiorna-
mento, preparations for the Council, reception of the Council
while it was in progress, and its legacy. These varied by country,
but in all cases key players in the story included not only bishops,
but also lay intellectuals, journalists, theologians, Communist
statesmen, and even secret-police agents.52
The road to the Council, its four sessions, and their after-
math all play a central role in each of this book’s five chapters.
- On the Marian vote, see Melissa J. Wilde, Vatican II: A Sociological Analysis of
Religious Change (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007), 102–3, 114–15. - On “collegiality” and its ultimate expression in the dogmatic constitution
Lumen gentium, see O’Malley, What Happened at Vatican II, 180–85; Wilde, Vatican II,
59–63. Given the positive outcome of the vote, as O’Malley puts it, “The bishops, by
their presence at the council and their active participation in it, had actually expe-
rienced collegiality. It was for them now part of their lived reality”; O’Malley, What
Happened at Vatican II, 184 (italics in original). - On the involvement of Communist security forces, see especially chapter 2,
by Árpád von Klimó, in this volume.