Papal Mystery: Is Benedict Downplaying Vatican II by Decrees?

Some theologians, however, say there could be a purpose behind the Vatican's timing.

The papal decree on the Latin Mass might be "not just about the liturgy but also about the teaching of Vatican II," said the Rev. James F. Puglisi, an American who runs the Centro Pro Unione, an ecumenical research center in Rome.

For instance, Puglisi noted, the Good Friday liturgy in the Tridentine Missal contains a prayer for the conversion of the Jews that refers to their "blindness" and the "veil [on] their hearts." The post-Vatican II Missal replaced that with a more conciliatory prayer for the Jews as "the first to hear the word of God."

The Vatican's statement last week that Protestant denominations are not churches "in the proper sense" but mere "Christian communities" is also potentially problematic for ecumenical relations.

According to the Rev. William Henn, an American who teaches at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University, the insistence that Vatican II did not change the church might detract from the council's historic support for ecumenism.

"My fear would be that stressing the identity of Vatican II as one of continuity might give the impression that there was nothing new that happened at Vatican II," Henn said. "In that case, there would have been no point in holding it."

Interpreters of Vatican II have long been divided between those who stress the continuity of its teachings with traditional Catholic doctrine and those who characterize the council as a dramatic break with the past.

Benedict, who as the Rev. Joseph Ratzinger was deeply involved in the deliberations of the council, is a longstanding member of the continuity school.

Commentators have been quick to see the pope's recent actions in light of this conviction.

"It could be part of a strategy. I hope it isn't," Henn said. "I wouldn't like to think that [the pope] is doing something that affects the life of the church just to influence what some theologians think. I hope its purpose is pastoral."