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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MAY 11, 1984
Although the recognition has come late that the pontiff sees his
job as that of a personal, hands-on pastor to the world, a senior
cleric noted wryly that the church had plenty of warning. "His
first words after his election on Oct. 16, 1978, were of his uni
versal mission," he said.
Another priest, a church historian and theologian, drew a paral
lel between what he believed John Paul was accomplishing today
and what St. Peter accomplished when he brought Christianity to
Rome in the earliest days of the church•.•• "I think John Paul
believes the time has come to recapitulate Peter's mission, to
personally reach out to the ends of the earth and away from the
parochialism that has come to characterize�-
He is movTng
away from the Roman Catholic Church as an Italian and European
concern and sees its great future in the Koreas of this world."
On
a
more personal level, the pope is said by some Vatican
clerics to have become increasingly aware of the strength of his
own personality, an almost charismatic quality that has made him
perhaps the most recognized leader now living. A Jesuit scholar
said, "••.He has credibility because he is not identified with
the power blocs. He has become a third voice for the Third World,
and he gains even more credibility when he goes to non-Catholic
countries."
John Paul recently ordered sweeping changes in the Vatican hier
archy. To free himself from the administrative detail and polit
ical squabbles that have overwhelmed many popes,· he delegated the
power to rule over Vatican City to Cardinal Agostino Casaroli,
69, the secretary of state. The move was designed largely to
give John Paul more time and freedom to deal with the world out
side Rome, according to Vatican sources.
Thus the Pope's "universal mission" ties in perfectly well with the Vati
can's reduced ties to the Italian state as reflected in the new concordat
between the two (PGR, March 2, 1984).
The Pope's next major trip is scheduled for September, this time to Canada,
where he will make twelve stops in as many days, coast-to-coast.
--Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau