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John Paul did not escape criticism. Roman Catholic liberals in the West complained that he failed to practice at the Vatican what he preached as he traveled the world. To them, justice within the church would allow for the ordination of women, the right use priests to marry, and freedom for Catholic couples to use birth control without guilt. Some Protestants also found fault with what they saw as his inflexibility in leading the church. Although John Paul honored the name of Martin Luther in his 500th anniversary year, and became the first Pope ever to preach in a Lutheran church, the Christian Century, a U.S. Protestant weekly, described him as "unbendingly orthodox if not downright medieval." John Paul appeared convinced, however, that in order to survive, the Catholic Church must regain its cohesion and discipline. Among his many disputed steps toward that end: warning U.S. bishops about the lack of discipline in the huge American church, and pursuing investigations of its seminaries and religious orders.
Slowed only slightly by aftereffects of the attempt on his life in 1981, John Paul was again fit and in command. As if to prove to the world that he does indeed practice what he preaches, at year's end he requested a private meeting with his assailant, Mehmet Ali Agca, which is expected to take place this week. At 63, John Paul II is still young for a Pope; his powerful and eloquent moral voice seems likely to be heard for many years to come.
Triumphant Leader at the Helm
For Margaret Thatcher, the challenge in 1983 was to top 1982, when a triumphant battle with Argentina over a sprinkling of islands in the South Atlantic exhilarated the British and made the Prime Minister almost as popular among her countrymen as Bonnie Prince William. What better way to match a victory abroad than with a victory at home? That Thatcher did, and as usual with the "Iron Lady," halfhearted results would not do. In the most sweeping British electoral conquest since 1945, her Conservatives captured a 144-seat majority in the 650-member Parliament.
Appropriately enough, the Prime Minister started 1983 with Union Jacks flying by visiting the Falklands. Accorded a heroine's welcome, she basked in remembered glory, then returned home to call elections for June, a year earlier than necessary. Against a backdrop of angry protests directed at the deployment of U.S. cruise missiles on British soil and unemployment at a postwar high of 13.3%, Thatcher ran as the resolute leader who would take on all opponents, be they leftists from Brighton or generals from Buenos Aires. Fortune gave her an opposition split and a Labor Party crippled by ideological warfare and an untested centrist alliance of Liberals and Social Democrats. Always ahead in the polls, the indefatigable Thatcher campaigned as if she were always trailing. It never mattered whether she faced a phalanx of WE LOVE MAGGIE signs or a fusillade of eggs: the wave never weakened, the smile never flagged.