So strange.  You see Vat II as opening a Pandora's box, "failed in its objective of renewal" so that "retrenchment was called for." 

And I think that Vat II did not fail - implementation was not carried through after a few halting steps that scared everyone - or scandalized them.  It wasn't so much that people rejected a "prewar christian moral  consensus" as it was time for change even in what had once been widely accepted issues.  I do believe that wider education, women's getting the vote, the invention of contraceptives, two devastating world wars -  were groundbreaking events that led to an absolute need for a new vision of our Catholic faith and how it operates in our lives. Now, massive changes in communication technologies have added another layer to the fact you cannot go back.
 
Retrenchment was the last thing the Church needed to do and it is what JPII and BXVI tried to do.  Francis is working on Vat II implementation rather than running away from it.