This book is unique in the literature on Vatican II. From the manifold issues debated at the council and formulated in its sixteen documents, it proposes that the salient features of "the vision of Vatican II" can be captured in twenty-four principles. Furthermore, it proposes that these principles can, in turn, function as criteria for assessing the reception of the conciliar vision over the last five decades and into the future. There is no other book that attempts such a comprehensive synthesis of the council's vision for renewal and reform of the Catholic Church.