Joe wrote:
"I just can't figure out what the Vatican is trying to do"

Get everything back under its control, and reverse as much of Vat 2 as possible, Joe.

You inhabit a different church and environment to (certainly) the UK, and I suspect much of Europe, and you're very lucky to do so.

I wish you all luck, but I'm keeping well away from the local variant, which has been lurching backwards ever since about 1980-something.

Paws