Religion: John Paul II Charms the Crowds

And gives signs of being a strong-minded Pope

Almost as soon as the white woolen pallium of office was draped around his shoulders, Pope John Paul II began asserting a vigorous personal style. Before week's end that style ruffled the Vatican's starchy bureaucracy, but it also charmed a watching world.

More than 200,000 people were packed into St. Peter's Square when Karol Cardinal Wojtyla, 58, Archbishop of Cracow, received the ceremonial vestment as the 263rd successor to St. Peter and spiritual leader of some 700 million Roman Catholics. As the Cardinals of the church filed...

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