Conservatives vs. Trads on Vatican II w/ Dr. Taylor Marshall

Dr. Taylor Marshall joins Matt Gaspers to discuss the ongoing debate over whether or not the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) has been a contributing factor to the crisis in the Church. During and after Vatican II, significant changes were introduced in the Catholic Church on multiple fronts. In the decades that followed, the Church experienced rapid decline according to virtually every metric (e.g., Mass attendance, baptisms, marriages, ordinations, number of priests and religious worldwide). As Dr. Marshall rightly states in his best-selling book Infiltration (2019), “The numbers do not lie. The Catholic Church has been in a tailspin since Vatican II.” Pope Paul VI (r. 1963-1978) admitted the same in 1968 when he said the Church was in a state of “auto-demolition,” and four years later, he famously lamented during a homily that “through some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God.” Was the Council a cause of the crisis in the Church? Conservatives say no, while traditionalists say yes. Which position is correct?