text: Part 1
  
  When did the past two popes ever have a discussion about current concerns?  During Vatican II, there was much discussion about episcopal conferences having more authority than what they had.  The Orthodox churches have always had such conferences [which goes back to the Council of Nicaea]---this also continues in the Eastern Catholic churches.  The patriarchates still have responsibilities for the appointment of bishops, the creation of dioceses, for the liturgy and its regulation, and for other substantive matters including the election of the patriarch himself.  Not so with Western episcopal conferences.
  
  Another form of collegiality, was the papal synod, which was proposed at Vatican II.  At that time, the bishops had in mind synods in which they would join the pope and share a discussion with him which would result in meaningful governance for the universal church.  JP II and members of the Curia were afraid that this would be injurious to the supreme authority of the pope.