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Article: Rome, where the pontiff is supreme; John Paul II at 75.(essay on Vatican culture)(Cover Story)
- Article from:
- National Catholic Reporter
- Article date:
- August 11, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 National Catholic Reporter. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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ROME -- They could have been 5,000 or 10,000 in St. Peter's Square, waiting patiently. There were nuns from Third World countries, in neat habits, looking young as teenagers. There were extended Italian families, Americans with their cameras, everyone with cameras.
Excitement quickened as the popemobile came in at a fast pace. Applause and flag-waving rose and fell like the wave at a football game. The pope looked good, his face animated. But when the popemobile stopped, it was an old pope who ascended the steps.
That week in May, John Paul II marked his 75th birthday. He had reached the age when the church obliges every other bishop to write a letter of ...