Word: vatican
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Society of Jesus was formed originally as a kind of spiritual Marine Corps to check the advance of Protestantism during the Counter Reformation. But in recent years Jesuit theologians have championed change within the church, most notably during the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council. But if the Jesuits have stood strong against all manner of assault from without, they have not weathered so well a storm of change from within. The society is still the largest single Catholic order. But its ranks, thinned by the turmoil in the church since Vatican II, have dwindled from an alltime high...
More change lies ahead. Early last month, Superior General Pedro Arrupe, 73, who was responsible for overseeing the society's troubled course in the stormy years since the Second Vatican Council, was felled by a stroke. A Spanish Basque, like Loyola, Arrupe served nearly three decades as a missionary in Japan before being elected the order's leader in 1965. Though Arrupe is expected to leave the hospital this month, he is not likely to resume the arduous job of managing the Jesuits. Just last year, in fact, Arrupe made the unprecedented announcement that he wished to resign...
...Pope made clear that he was just repeating criticisms voiced by his immediate predecessors, Paul VI and John Paul I. But his rebukes prompted speculation that he was dissatisfied with Arrupe's direction. Arrupe has delegated greater authority to provincial superiors around the world, and one high-ranking Vatican source feels that the Pope may see him "more as an inspirer than a governor...
...fluctuating health bulletins from Gemelli, before the operation, prompted speculation in the press that John Paul might do the unthinkable and abdicate, rather than limp along as a semi-invalid Pope confining his actions to the minutiae of the Vatican bureaucracy. There had even been talk of a new papal conclave. This time around, the early favored papabili were Italians who have reputations as seasoned administrators. One was Casaroli, a moderate who has gained exposure as John Paul's loyal second in command. The other: Giovanni Benelli, 60, the conservative, often abrasive Archbishop of Florence, who was runner...
More recent speculation has focused on what new direction a less strong and energetic John Paul might give his pontificate. Would he, like ailing Popes Pius IX and Leo XIII, retire to a life of meditation and reflection behind Vatican walls, rather than touring the globe...