Reaction to pope's death much as it was years ago

"Stop the presses!"

OK, I don't remember for sure if one of us actually yelled out that cliched movie line in the wee morning hours of Friday, Sept. 29, 1978, but somebody should have.

I'd been working at what was then called The Roanoke Times & World-News for just one week. I was still learning the ropes on the copy desk, working late into the night editing reporters' stories, writing headlines and fashioning cutlines (photo captions).

It was just after 2 a.m. - the last edition had just been put to bed (to use another bit of newspaper jargon) - when the announcement came from the Vatican: The pope was dead.

We pulled back the front page and waited for the first story to move on the wire services. We put it above the masthead, headlined "Pope John Paul I Dies in Sleep of Heart Attack."

Twelve paragraphs and a small photo were all we had for the morning edition, but those of us who were still at work felt the rush of excitement of getting big, breaking news into the paper at the last minute.

Looking back today at the papers of that week, I noticed that the Sept. 28 edition included a wire story describing the "relaxed and informal manner" of still-new Pope John Paul I, who had just completed the first month of his papacy.

His dual name - a papal first - had been chosen to honor his two immediate predecessors, Paul VI, who had died Aug. 6, and John XXIII, who initiated the sweeping reform of the Roman Catholic Church known as Vatican II.

John Paul won over his audiences with self-deprecating humor and apparent accessibility, seemingly destined to be a popular pope.

Surprising news

Over the next three weeks, the world watched Rome - just as it is now.

On Oct. 14, the cardinals began the process of electing a new pope. Two days later, they shocked the church and the non-Catholic world by picking Karol Wojtyla, who chose the name John Paul II.

Again, the story dominated the front page of The Roanoke Times & World-News.

Although not completely unknown, the Polish Wojtyla was an unlikely choice in many ways. Most shockingly, he was the first non-Italian pope in 450 years. He was young, only 58 years old. And he was an athlete, known particularly for his love of skiing.

The lack of knowledge about him led to some misconceptions the day after his election. The wire service story we ran said the cardinals were debating whether it was time to shift the church to the right after the reforms of Vatican II.

The author concluded that wasn't going to happen: "By his choice of name - John Paul II - Wojtyla showed that he, too, means to continue in the liberalizing line of the most recent popes."

But time revealed a pope who was theologically conservative. While he didn't try to overthrow all the reforms of Vatican II, he used his long papacy to reinforce the traditions of the church: Artificial birth-control methods are always wrong. Priests must commit themselves to lives of celibacy. Don't even think about women being ordained to the priesthood.

On the other hand, he continued the spirit of reform in other areas, including expanding relationships with other Christian denominations, Jews and Muslims.

An old, familiar story

Poring over those 26-year-old newspapers, I was struck by how familiar the stories are, how little has changed in the way we cover the deaths and elections of popes.

In particular, the reverence accorded the passing of a pope is noticeable. Criticism is so slight as to be almost unheard.

What is a bit different this time are the loud exclamations of approval of this pope voiced by some Protestants.

Evangelicals found common cause with the pope on the issue of abortion, for instance, and were willing to overlook his denunciation of the death penalty. They agreed with him in opposing gay marriages, ignoring the pope's insistence that Catholicism represents the one true church. They agreed with him on the need to dismantle totalitarian communist regimes, disregarding his strong criticism of unfettered capitalism.

Another thing that hasn't changed is the flurry of speculation over who is the front-runner to be the next pope. Lists of likely candidates and their qualifications quickly sprang up on the Internet.