The Papacy: Reluctant Revolutionary

On the opening day of the Vatican Council's fourth session last week, more than 1,500 Roman Catholic prelates assembled for a march of penance from the Church of the Holy Cross to the Basilica of St. John Lateran, half a mile away. As the chill autumnal dusk darkened the Roman sky, a priest began to chant the ancient litany; from the throats of thousands of cardinals, bishops, priests and laymen came back the droning, prayerful response: "Pardon us, O Lord." At the rear of the procession, beneath...

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