Without the pope's approval and cooperation, nothing new moves, - no Vatican II, no new mass, no admittance of effeminate men into the clergy, no Catholic Pentecostalism and other non-Catholic practices, no ad-libbed changes (mass facing the people, biased ideology incorporated into vernacular translations of mass, communion in the hand,etc)
Of course not. Paul VI was the most liberal pope we have ever had. Like Louis XVI, he was a major player in his own tragedy. But we must take care in assigning blame. Look at the rejection of Humanae Vitae by virtually the whole Western Church. Look at the spread of liberation theology, the sudden collapse of traditionalist church such as in Quebec. At bottom, it was the victory of modernism.