Word: 264th
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...this late hour, the latter seems predominant as bookies grow busier and politicking amongst the cardinals sharpens. Inside the Conclave, which begins on Monday, all of that is supposed to give way to each cardinal?s most holy obligation to seek out the right man to be the 264th successor to Peter. Still, the race today appears no more predictable than it did two weeks ago. But I?ll run the risk of declaring my Top 10 papal candidates, though I?ve included a safety net as No. 5. But not even that is foolproof, since Church law allows that...
...some few parts of the world where it had not yet penetrated. And they boomed through the poet's own church. In the end, not every Catholic--certainly not every American Catholic--considered Pope John Paul II's explosion a joyful noise unto the Lord. But the 264th occupant of the throne of St. Peter was no more silenced by their misgivings than by the assassin's bullet he survived in 1981 or the progressive ailments, including Parkinson's disease, that he withstood for at least a decade. He pursued God's truth with a fearless, anachronistic, nearly stunning purity...
Twenty-five years and counting is an extraordinary tenure for any pontiff, and only two others have reigned longer than the 264th pope. But it's not only John Paul II's longevity that has made him synonymous with the papacy in the minds of many of his own flock, and the wider world; he has dramatically redefined the role with his relentless evangelical energy. Most of John Paul II's predecessors were almost prisoners in the Vatican, and had rarely ventured beyond the walls of the Holy See. John Paul II took the Catholic Church out on the road...
...failed miserably, a demonstrable fact. I am a believer in an omniscient and loving God, as is John Paul II, but I can't prove I'm right. Nor can the Pope--that's faith. And as you pointed out, "the Catholic Church will survive the death of the 264th Pope," while few believe the Cuban revolution will outlive Castro. ROBERT F. MORAN Methuen, Mass...
...anything marks the 264th Pontiff more than his magnetic appeal it is his steely determination to reassert the powers of his office after the experimentation that followed the Second Vatican Council of the early 1960s. Thus, though John Paul is concerned about the growing shortage of priests, he insists that controls on their conduct must be tightened, not eased. In September he called in the superior general of the Jesuit order and demanded that its members correct "regrettable shortcomings" in discipline and faith. With John Paul's approval, the Vatican has also grown more critical of liberal theologians; last...