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In many ways the most important four hours of the Pope's trip will come during the second week, when he meets behind closed doors in Los Angeles with all the U.S. bishops. At his 1979 meeting with the bishops, the Pope simply delivered a formal speech. This time, however, the U.S. hierarchy has arranged to have four archbishops address the Pope. Chicago's Joseph Cardinal Bernardin will speak on the touchy relations between Rome and the local church, San Francisco's John Quinn on moral teachings, Cincinnati's Daniel Pilarczyk on recruiting priests and nuns, and outspokenly liberal Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee on the laity's role. The Pontiff will then reply.
John Paul is not running a democracy, of course. No political deals will be negotiated. What the Pope says will still count more than what he hears. And whatever their sympathies toward their parishioners and their clergy may be, U.S. bishops do not challenge the Pope's prerogatives as the vicar of Christ on earth. Los Angeles Archbishop Roger Mahony, one of the Pope's recent appointees, explains, "The difficulty is that there are some key issues in our faith that are simply not negotiable." Says Cardinal Bernardin: "Many Catholics, and this is true of Americans generally, are more reluctant today to accept things simply on the basis of authority. To some extent this is good. It's a more mature way of going about things. It becomes a problem, however, when this attitude undermines in a destructive or pervasive way the teaching authority which we believe was given to the church by Christ."
Roughly two-fifths of the current group of bishops favor a harder line than Bernardin's. The Pope has been naming an average of 15 new U.S. bishops a year with the advice of the Vatican's astute monitor in America, Pro-Nuncio Pio Laghi, and he has generally used those opportunities to increase the conservatives' strength. So the division between those in the pews and those at the top of the American church seems likely to widen in the coming years.
Many Catholic Americans do not understand why, if their love of God and overall faith in the church are unwavering, the Vatican should insist on narrow fealty. They are perplexed that a Pope who seems so humane and intelligent would also be so implacable in insisting on adherence to church discipline and teaching. Curran, reflecting the viewpoint of many other Catholics, insists that not only theologians but also bishops "must have the power to disagree with the Pope on matters other than those central to faith and morals."
The Pontiff has more on his mind than the parochial concerns of the church in the U.S. Taking a global view, he sees himself in battle against both the dehumanizing philosophy of Marxism and the self-centered excesses of the West. To John Paul, the restoration of received Christian wisdom is the only certain path to human fruition and spiritual fulfillment. He will come to the U.S. smiling. He will convey a genuine and touching pastoral warmth, effectively using all the modern means of communication. But he will not agree to let even so important a body as American Catholics make their own way. Long after the banners of his visit have been struck, the shepherd of Rome and his unruly American flock will be testing each other in the struggle to define the shape of modern Catholicism.