If one day it should become necessary to evaluate the theological meaning of the Second Vatican Council in its more significant historical value, one will have to consult the third chapter of Lumen gentium. As the doctrine of primate marked the First Vatican Council in a prestigious manner, doctrine concerning the sacramental value of the episcopacy defined the Second Vatican Council which, regarding this aspect, fulfilled the previous reflection. The teachings that it encounters today allows the verification and evaluation of doctrinal development realized following the Council Father’s intentions; quoting Paul VI: "The integrity of the Catholic truth now requires a clarification in harmony with doctrine regarding the Papacy, that will place the figure and the mission of the episcopate in its shining light" .

There are two essential expressions for understanding the Council’s doctrine on this subject: 1. " The Lord Jesus, after praying to the Father, calling to Himself those whom He desired, appointed twelve to be with Him…He formed after the manner of a college or a stable group, over which He placed Peter chosen from among them." (LG 19); 2. " ….St. Peter and the other apostles constitute one apostolic college, so in a similar way the Roman Pontiff, the successor of Peter, and the bishops, the successors of the apostles, are joined together. " (LG 22). With these statements the Fathers teach the divine institution of the College of the Twelve and provide a first essential integration with the doctrine of the Primate. Following the biblical teachings and the entire tradition of the Fathers, the Second Vatican Council describes the sacramental characteristic of the episcopate (see LG 21): the Bishop is Christ’s minister and his living image or, preferring the beautiful expression used by Ignacio of Antioch: typos tou Patros, the living image of God the Father. One may observe that the bishop’s sacramental dimension, as expressed by the Council’s Fathers, tends to merge both the historical horizon through which, with the apostolic succession, the bishop becomes a member of the college and hence reconnected to Jesus Christ’s original act; and the pneumatic horizon that allows the bishop to be the sacrament of the act of the glorious Spirit of Christ through which he himself works and acts.

When asked if the Fathers liked the outline that described Episcopal consecration as "the highest level of the sacrament of Holy Orders", the answer was negative. Today the Council’s constitution states that the episcopate constitutes "the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders". The Spiritus principalis, that is bestowed with consecration, confers the grace and impresses the characteristic (see LG 21). Hence the development of the treatment of this subject, with the objective of the bishop’s ministry as fully entitled to be called the "diaconate", because it is a true and genuine service that allows them to assume the form of Christ. The office of teaching, sanctifying and governing explicitly represents the Episcopal diaconate and shows the personal and particular space of their consecration.

Within this organized teaching concerning the episcopate, there is room for that concerning priesthood and the diaconate. In this manner, the theology of the presbyterate is strengthened because the nature, the role and the dignity of the presbyterate is better clarified. It finds a fundamental bond with the entire history of redemption and it unfolds in the wonderful dynamics that permit one to observe it as more intimately joined to the apostolic and missionary role of the bishops. By accepting the Tridentine dogmatic vision, according to which the uniqueness of the Holy Orders are expressed in the three different degrees of the ecclesiastical office which includes the bishop, the college of the presbyters and the deacons, the Second Vatican Council created the bases for a theology of the presbyterate that is capable of understanding the intimate relationship between the presbyterial ministry and the bishops’ own mission. By receiving the Holy Orders, they join the mission of the bishops and are therefore engaged in that apostolic succession that leads them back to Jesus Christ, the supreme and eternal priest, the first and only source for each priesthood and apostolate, for which they serve for the good of the whole Church.

The theology of Holy Orders most certainly acquires depth regards to the Council’s teachings. The supernatural bond between bishops and presbyters is above all of an ontological nature because of the participation in Christ’s unique priesthood and, starting from this point broadens to include a pastoral and juridical nature. The achievement of dogmatic clarity regarding the sacramental characteristic of the episcopate and the apostolic college, has certainly favored the inclusion and the progress of the theology of the presbyterate not as an appendix, but as the form and true expression of Christ’s unique priesthood and therefore as "the true priests of the New Testament" (LG 28).