Word: pontiff
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...loftier matters on his mind. "I am Jesus Christ!" Agca shouted. "I am omnipotent. I announce the end of the world. All will be destroyed." The bizarre outburst in the opening moments of the trial of three Bulgarians and five Turks accused of conspiring to kill the Pontiff made one thing clear: Italian prosecutors may face a difficult task in convincing the six-member jury that their star witness is credible...
When Pope John Paul II takes to the road, crowds are almost always huge and the mood celebratory. The Pontiff's magical spell, however, was abruptly snapped in the Netherlands last week during his 26th foreign journey. The Dutch, with 5.6 million Roman Catholics among 14.5 million citizens, accorded John Paul a remarkably unfriendly reception. There were street riots and also barbed comments from his hosts...
...invitation-only indoor events were filled to capacity but proved troublesome in a different way. The Pontiff was repeatedly confronted over his conservative policies. The most dramatic episode took place in Utrecht during a talk by Hedwig Wasser, a middle-aged mother of three, on behalf of the National Council of Missionary Societies. Although the Dutch hierarchy had tried to screen out dissidents who might challenge the Pope, Wasser departed from her text, which had been cleared in advance, to ask John Paul, "Are we preaching the liberating gospel in a credible way . . . if we exclude rather than make room...
...with the Rev. Henk Huting, chairman of the Netherlands Reformed Synod. Huting deplored the Catholic Church's ecumenical regression and blamed it on "instructions from higher authority." Read: Rome. For his part, John Paul skipped some hard-line passages in his prepared address, but the text remains the Pontiff's most forthright statement on his approach toward Protestantism. Discussion of joint Communion services is futile, he indicated, and Rome is unwilling to explore changes in the nature of the priesthood. The speech removed any remaining doubt that John Paul now foresees substantial ecumenical progress only with the Eastern Orthodox churches...
...hierarchy. It was the first time a Pope has done so in public. He acknowledged the local unrest and disappointment over his February naming of conservative Bishop Johannes ter Schure, 62. "Believe me, brothers and sisters, this suffering on account of the church grieves me," said the Pontiff. But "in the final analysis, the Pope has to make the decisions...