Word: papally
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Normally the Pope gives neither interviews nor press conferences, but during the long flights on the papal plane, John Paul usually takes time not only to greet reporters but to listen carefully to their questions and provide remarkably direct and thoroughgoing answers. "During our 1979 flight to Mexico," Wynn recalls, "John Paul told me that he planned to visit the U.S., the first time this had been revealed. On subsequent trips, he gave me meaty answers about keeping priests out of politics and on his plans to visit Poland in 1983 in spite of the country's state of martial...
Wynn has been able to supplement such papal encounters with background information from an array of well-placed Vatican sources. "There is one advantage to getting older," says Wynn. "If you hang around long enough, your lower-echelon contacts eventually move up to positions of eminence." Says Associate Editor Richard Ostling, TIME's Religion writer since 1975 and the author of this week's cover story on the state of the church: "Wilton Wynn is one of the finest reporters of this generation, and a key part of TIME's Vatican coverage." Ostling is not alone in that view. During...
Besides his Vatican appointments, of course, the Pope names all new bishops, and, says one of the leading figures among the U.S. bishops, "He's trying to change the makeup of the hierarchies so he will have more control." Some liberals question whether papal authority can be so easily imposed. Father Greeley points out that U.S. Catholics no longer constitute an immigrant culture, and are far more likely to attend college than are Americans as a whole. Says he: "The American hierarchy and the Vatican simply haven't realized that we have a well-educated population out there whom...
...Although papal authority has emerged as the overriding issue, there are also important debates about church involvement in contemporary social matters. John Paul has led the way, denouncing economic injustice and insisting on the rights of the downtrodden. Taking their lead from the Pontiff, American bishops are issuing strong moral stands on their nation's nuclear arms strategy, the U.S. economic system and the evil of abortion. Bishops in Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Uganda, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and other lands have boldly denounced human rights abuses by their governments. In South Africa, white Archbishop Denis Hurley will go on trial...
...face of criticism that the Pope is turning back the clock to precouncil days, one of his closest advisers declares that this is a misinterpretation of papal aims. John Paul, says this observer, looks to the future, viewing his mandate in terms of three core concepts. They are integrality, identity and clarity: the integrality of the Christian message; the identity of the priests and nuns who present it; and, above all, clarity that will let everyone know exactly what the church stands...