EDITORIAL
"THE GREATL'ST AMONG YOU . . ." In the swift, decisive and surprising selection of Albino Cardinal Luciani as Pope we have a good picture of the state of mind of the College of Cardinals, if not...
...Albino Luciani once said that the papacy requires three things: "continuous and involved teaching, a dialogue unknown in previous times, and loyalty to the Council...
...Just as one prefers steadiness and reliability to brilliant imagination in an astronaut, so the cardinals wanted a firm, predictable hand on the tiller of Peter's leaky barque...
...Clearly the cardinals knew what they did and did not want...
...In this sense, John Paul I's first humble gestures, like his earlier urgings to the parishes in Venice to sell their jewels for the poor, and his scaling down of: last Sunday's "coronation" to a simpler Mass, are encouraging...
...15 September 1978:580...
...and he can still revitalize the celibate priesthood so that the way of life witl attract and challenge young men sophisticated enough to achieve emotional maturity without marriage and generous enough to give up their own families to serve the family of man...
...With all its complex international political and economic crises, the Church's deepest crisis may be its pastoral credibility, a central aspect of the crisis of belief...
...Nevertheless, there is already evidence that the Conclave-if it has not select~ed a Catholic liberal's dream candidate--has still chosen well...
...In spite of the holiness and sincerity of Pins XII and Paul VI, most people now alive have not seen, except briefly in John XXI.H, a Pope .they could easily identify with Jesus...
...antiCommunism may prove too inttexible--not right for Poland, a Communist state where the churches are full, or for Latin America where the bishops have been open to Marxist political and economic theory...
...he is wary of modern theologians, worker priests and changes in nuns' habits...
...We must therefore acknowledge that the selection of John Paul I, like his mixed name and like the black-white-gray smoke that announced his election, is a mixed solution to the Church's various crises: although he Commonweal: 579 has shown deep concern for the poor of his di0t~gsq, he has no record of involvement in internation~l~ social problems...
...If he does not feel free to revoke Humanae Vitae, which he originally opposed before its publication, he can at least maintain his silence on the subject and allow the pastoral solution which emphasizes freedom of con' science to continue...
...a dramatic, more radical plunge into international social problems...
...The people do not see in the visible Church the poor, simple, joyous spirit of the gospels...
...Not while he was carried on a throne, was surrounded and isolated by the triumphalism and protocol more appropriate to a king than a servant, and said "We" when, in fact, he was the only one standing there...
...he can also make them cardinals, so that august body can more accurately represent the real body of the universal Church...
...If he will not allow priests to marry in this generation, he can perhaps ordain some mature married men...
...There was something defensive, as well as conciliatory, about the choice ma sense of pulling the covered wagons into a circle, drawing the line with the letter rather than the freefloating spirit of Vatican H. Thus, if the electors were not moved by actual fear, perhaps the dominant moods were realism--an admission that the hard-line conservatives, Curia and diplomatic corps lacked both the votes and the humble, pastoral image the new papacy would demand--and cautionma foot on the brakes on any theological risk-taking...
...Above all, it seems they wanted no bending on the "hot" issues that have commanded a disproportionate amount of media time and emotional energymabortion, women priests and married clergy...
...His motto might be a sentence from Matthew's gospel for the day he was elected: "The greatest among you will be the one who serves the rest...
...His style of...
...a broader "opening to the Left/' a conciliatory coming-to-terms with the existence of European --and especially Italian---Communism...
...In ways we did not expect, the Church may be in for exciting times as a man who has seldom left northern Italy begins a new dialogue with his own soul and the whole world...
...THE GREATL'ST AMONG YOU . . ." In the swift, decisive and surprising selection of Albino Cardinal Luciani as Pope we have a good picture of the state of mind of the College of Cardinals, if not necessarily of the actual status of the universal Church...
...If he will not ordain women, he can still give them administrative power in every level of Church government...
...They did not want: any surprises...
...Certainly they wanted a good, recognizably "spiritual," intelligent, amiable, Italian, conservative pastor...
Vol. 105 • September 1978 • No. 18
