Word: casaroli
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Precisely what John Paul will eventually do is still unknown, but in choosing the able and totally obedient Agostino Casaroli as his top aide, the Pope has signaled that power will be centralized in his office alone. He has a disconcerting tactic of popping into curial offices to look around, and of conferring with staff experts when their bosses are not present...
Last week it was Wojtyla's turn. Now Pope John Paul II, he put Casaroli, 64, in line for a red hat by naming him acting Secretary of State. The job, and the hat, will be permanent as soon as the Pope holds his first consistory to create new Cardinals. Since the Secretariat of State functions as a superexecutive within the Vatican Curia, it is the most important appointment John Paul II will make. Casaroli becomes the highest-ranking churchman after the Pope himself...
...Casaroli, the Pope has a born diplomat: loyal, highly skilled, and completely committed to the Second Vatican Council reforms. Casaroli has been the Vatican's top emissary to Communist regimes ever since Pope John XXIII launched negotiations to help East bloc churches survive. Though the appointment is regarded as John Paul's endorsement of this policy, Casaroli modestly shuns his common designation as the Architect of Ostpolitik. The Pope is the architect, he once said. "I am the instrument...
...that cause, Casaroli's travels have been endless, his achievements notable. Since 1963, among other things, he has reestablished diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia and rebuilt the shattered hierarchies of Hungary and Czechoslovakia. China is a current concern. With typical Casaroli finesse, the Vatican is maintaining an office on Taiwan, but no nuncio has been appointed-a signal that overtures from Peking are welcome...
...tailor in Piacenza in Northern Italy, Casaroli began studies for the priesthood at 14, and has spent his entire career in the Secretariat of State. Vatican prelates expect his genial, flexible style to balance that of the tough, demanding Pole. Remarks one: "John Paul would tell you to jump out of the window. Casaroli will persuade you to do so after an hour's talk...