For years, journalists who cover Pope John Paul II have referred to him privately as ``the old man.'' Last week, in the midst of his 11-day tour of Asia and the Pacific, the 74-year-old Pontiff accepted that description--if a bit reluctantly. In Manila for World Youth Day, he replied to youngsters who were shouting, ``Lolek! Lolek!,'' his nickname as a boy. ``Lolek was a child,'' he told them. ``John Paul is an old man.''
Old and slightly stooped, in fact, but strong enough to give 30 talks during a 33,000-km tour that touched the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Australia and Sri...