The Spirit of Vatican II Western European Progressive Catholicism in the Long Sixties

This is the first detailed survey of the radical dynamic unleashed by the innovations of Vatican II. It highlights the intellectual and activist contribution by Catholic thinkers, priests, and laypersons in shaping the turbulent decade of the 'sixties' in Western Europe. The book focuses on five crucial contributions by Catholic activists and communities to the burgeoning atmosphere of those turbulent years and aims to highlight a moment in the recent history of European society when Catholic communities were acting as indispensable motor forces of radical political and societal change.