Word: villot
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...included a Solemn Pontifical Mass concelebrated by the Pope and the new members of the Sacred College - Paul announced what may prove to be his most significant piece of news: the appointment of a new Secretary of State. The man that he chose was France's Jean Cardinal Villot, 63. He succeeds the ailing, 86-year-old Amleto Cardinal Cicognani, at one time the apostolic delegate...
Personal Requirements. The Secretary of State is, in effect, the Vatican's Prime Minister. Villot is the first non-Italian to serve in this capacity since Spain's Cardinal Merry del Val held the office under Pius X from 1903 to 1914. While there was some surprise that this sensitive job would go to a non-Italian, the appointment was in keeping with Paul's long-declared intention of internationalizing the Curia. Two years ago, 20 of the 24 highest posts in the Vatican bureaucracy were held by Italian prelates; now, only eight top posts are held...
...elevating Villot, the Pope is also meeting his own personal requirements, since Villot is in accord with Paul's middle-of-the-road style. During the Second Vatican Council, he was the chief diplomatic intermediary between the often hostile progressive and conservative camps. Like the Pope, he tends to be conservative theologically, but he is far less rigid than the reactionary Cicognani. Although the son of a wealthy landowner, Villot was known as a champion of "the church of the poor" while Archbishop of Lyon and had frequent and cordial contacts with many dissident groups, including the French worker...
Since being called back to Rome in 1967 to join the Curia, Villot has been even more actively involved in grappling with religious, racial and other forms of ferment in the priesthood throughout the world. Easily approachable, he generally wears a plain black cassock to work, frequently answers his own telephone, and sometimes, in order to keep an appointment, will hop a bus rather than use a Vatican limousine...