You are right, the Church has always been authoritarian for the last 1800 years or so, but for all of those years, governments did not have the capacity to destroy cities and kill millions, and at the end, kill the planet.  That called for a different world view and not just of authoritarianism, but man's place in the universe and in relationship to God.  Europe rejected the pre war foundation of the Catholic clerical world view, was not swayed by Vatican II.  and now the rest of the world is moving beyond Vatican II for similar reasons. Catholicism's view of man's relationship to God and the clergy's self proclaimed place in that relationship does not hold water any longer.  Male authoritarianism no longer holds sway. It's almost killed our existence on this planet and the backlash associated with it's death may still accomplish that feat.