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Buoyed by such acclaim, back in Rome a tired John Paul and his harried entourage barely had enough time to unpack, greet the visiting President Reagan, sketch plans, repack and take off Friday for Argentina. That journey of 7,000 miles carries no ecumenical agenda whatsoever; the population is 92% Catholic, compared with Britain's 13%. But while the basic purpose is pastoral, even more than in Britain the political landscape is dotted with opportunities for trouble. "The Pope's visit could weigh heavily in peace negotiations," La Prensa, the leading daily in Buenos Aires, warned last week. Though John Paul carried no blueprint—only a desire for the two sides to stop shooting and start talking—he could confront a nation in a foul mood, reeling from a bloody and climactic Falklands defeat at the hands of Britain, the country the Pope had just passed through. Moreover, Argentina is a Catholic nation that has, by all accounts, flagrantly violated John Paul's teachings on human rights, a frequent topic that he saw no need to emphasize in democratic Britain. In his expected private meeting with junta leaders, and in all public actions, he must be careful not to offend Argentina, or weaken his new bonds with Britain, or ignore the diplomatic sensitivities of neighboring Chile. That country, which is also heavily Catholic, has its own border dispute with Argentina over ownership of the Beagle Channel islands, an area that is, if possible, even more remote than the Falklands. According to church sources, a settlement proposed by a Vatican mediator has been accepted by the government of Chile, but not by that of Argentina. The Galtieri government's refusal had prompted John Paul to spurn the pleas of Argentine bishops for a papal visit, until the fast-moving developments of the past few weeks changed his mind.
On the plane from Britain to Rome, the Pope mingled informally with the press corps on board. He was in high spirits, fairly brimming over with satisfaction over the way the six-day pilgrimage had gone. But behind the Pope's back, some Vatican officials complain that John Paul spends too much time making and planning trips and not enough on the administration of the Holy See. They could perhaps point to the current labor situation in Rome, where a labor association representing most of the 1,800 lay employees in the world's smallest state plans an unprecedented two-hour strike against Vatican City on June 14, just before the Pope leaves to address the International Labor Organization in Geneva. Their demands include a 20% pay increase, more generous child allowances and pensions and a 36-hour week. The workers hope the protest will prod the Pope, the microstate's absolute monarch, into resolving the dispute himself. If the Pope can settle an Italian labor quarrel, he will surely add to his reputation as a diplomatic miracle worker.