Word: pontiff
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...last week, Pope John Paul II visited New York, New Jersey and Maryland, but the centerpiece was his speech to the United Nations General Assembly, on the eve of the U.N.'s 50th anniversary. Switching from English to French, from Russian to Spanish, the 75-year-old Pontiff condemned the genocidal impulses that have scarred the 20th century. But he held out hope for the 21st, saying that there is a "universal moral law written on the human heart." Later the same day, in a sermon delivered at a Mass attended by 83,000 people at Giants Stadium...
...would not be an exaggeration to say that Americans were obsessed with the Pope throughout his stay. The New York Times created whole sections dedicated exclusively to reporting the details of the Pontiff's visit. Television and radio coverage throughout the New York metropolitan area exceeded that of the O.J. trial. The Pope simply transfixed this country: Catholics, Protestants and Jews alike...
...society where convictions are tried on like different costumes, it is a relief to confront the unwavering principle of John Paul II. Would that Louis Farrakhan and his cronies had learned a lesson from the Pontiff...
...parishioners, to be sure, express mild disagreement with positions that John Paul, hewing to church doctrine, has emphasized during his 17 years as Pontiff. The ban on women in the priesthood prompts a brief debate. Joseph Lewis, 64, a retired Westinghouse engineer and chair of the St. Joseph parish council, suggests that the omission of women from the ranks of the Apostles may have been historical rather than theological: "You've got to put yourself back to A.D. 25 to interpret the Jewish religion and the Roman Empire. Could you picture Christ choosing women Apostles? There's a different frame...
Bonfante's travels--besides Rome, he has covered Greece, Turkey and the Middle East and has served as Time's Paris bureau chief--give him a global perspective on the Pontiff's role. "We in the U.S. are so intent on 'political' questions we sometimes forget that the Pope has a worldwide church to worry about," he says. For this week's piece, Bonfante brought the international perspective home by traveling to predominantly Mexican-American East Los Angeles to visit the Iglesia de la Resurreccion (Church of the Resurrection), where Mass is accompanied by an eight-piece mariachi band, complete...