Curnow, Rohan This article is concerned with the beginning of the trajectory of thought that links two events: Vatican II and the emergence of an explicit doctrine of the Preferential Option for the Poor in the official documents of the Latin American Episcopal Conference's (CELAM) meetings at Puebla, Mexico in 1968, and Medell n, Columbia in 1979. Specifically, this article concentrates on a group that formed early in proceedings at Vatican II, known as both the 'Group of the Church of (...) the Poor' or the 'Belgian College Group' (after the place in which it met). The group, albeit an informal one, championed the issue of poverty in work that was conducted largely behind the scenes and outside official Conciliar structures. This article illustrates that, via the work of the Group of the Church of the Poor, the poor broke into the Church's consciousness at the Council in a new - if limited - way. To demonstrate this point, this article focuses on the Group of the Church of the Poor's: (a) origins and complexion; (b) aims and activities; and, (c) achievements and shortcomings at the Council. (shrink)