Word: luciani
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...bureaucrat from the Curia but a man who, like John XXIII, had the warmth of a good pastor. In addition, almost all the Cardinals seemed to want a man who emblemized faith as well as hope and charity, one who, like Paul VI, had a deep concern for doctrine. Luciani fitted both bills. He was also ideal in another respect. The Cardinals are always uneasy at the prospect of a lengthy papacy?15 or more years?and the Patriarch of Venice is a 65-year-old who was sickly as a child and suffered a two-year siege of tuberculosis...
...rigid Pius XII in his approach to the new scientific issues of the age. When the first test-tube baby was born and some Catholic theologians condemned the experiment, Luciani said in an interview, "I extend the warmest wishes to the English girl. As for the parents, I have no right to condemn them. Subjectively, if they acted in good faith and with good intentions, they could even gain great merit before...
Then, his pastoral point made, Luciani continued, "Progress is a great thing, but not all progress is good for man. Will not science bear the appearance of the Sorcerer's Apprentice, who scatters mighty forces without, however, being able to dam or dominate them? Could there not be danger of a new industry arising, that of manufacture of children? The individual conscience must always be followed, but the individual must make an effort to have a well-formed conscience. Conscience, indeed, does not have the duty of creating law, but of informing itself first on what...
...Luciani is a man who is not afraid to change his mind. He kept a low profile at the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and admitted afterward, "The part that caused me most problems was that on religious liberty. For years I had been teaching his [Vatican Cardinal Alfredo Otta-viani's] theories about law, according to which only the true Roman Catholic religion has rights. I convinced myself, however, that we had been wrong...
...Luciani's name had first been floated in the preconclave period by Carlo Confalonieri, 85, the dean of the College of Cardinals. Respected among the "foreigners" as well as the Italians, Confalonieri was ineligible for the conclave himself because of Paul's ban on those 80 and over...