It did not want to oppose the world but to join it. The Council wanted to consider other Christian traditions in order to be more in touch with them. Many of the standard Catholic traditions were realigned in order to fit the modern society. To do this, sixteen official documents were produced from the four sessions of the Vatican II, including the 'Sacrosanctum Concilium' (Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy), the 'Nostra Aetate' (Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions) and the 'Lumen Gentium' (Dogmatic Constitution of the Church). These 16 documents were the basis of the revised practises of the Catholic Church as a result of Vatican II. .
Prior to Vatican II, the Catholic Church was run as a strict hierarchical religious organisation. The Pope was regarded as the most holy person alive, followed by the Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, Deacons, and finally the Laity. This structure was somewhat outdated in the modern world which was experiencing a social revolution. Vatican II established that all people were equal in the eyes of God and the Holy Spirit, helping overcome the problem of exclusivity that was seen in the Church, helping it to become more inclusive. The people of the Church were given the power of democracy and the Church became more welcoming as a result of the changing of the Church's hierarchy into a more circular and inclusive model. Through the sacrament of Baptism, all people within the Church became equals, regardless of their ranking within it. This is reflected in the document published by Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", which states that "all are called to sanctity and have received an equal privilege of faith through the justice of God". This document even called into question the concept of authority within the Church. It became known as a service of love in imitation of Jesus, rather than an act of dominance over others.
