Why was Pope John XXIII so influential? (Glad you asked: Q&A on church teaching).

Most folks, when trying to set the direction of an organization like a parish or a school, or indeed, the universal church, tend to grip the reins tightly. Most folks believe that influence is the result of keeping firm control on things

But Pope John XXlII, who led the Catholic Church from 1958 until 1963, took the opposite approach. He kept a loose hand on the reins, preferring to allow the Holy Spirit to be in control. The results of his papacy were stunning! His influence came from stepping back, taking a longer, less serious view of the church, and insisting that the Spirit be allowed to move the church where it would. Trusting in the Spirit like this also allowed him to have some fun.

Henri Fesquet tells a story in Wit and Wisdom of Good Pope John (P. J. Kenedy & Sons). Pope John visited the Hospital of the Holy Spirit in Rome that was administered by a group of women religious. Everyone Was a bit anxious to have the pope drop by like this. The mother superior of the community serving the hospital, deeply stirred by his visit, introduced herself to him. "Most Holy Father," she said, "I am the superior of the Holy Spirit."

"Well, I must say you're lucky," Pope John replied, "I'm only the vicar of Jesus Christ!"

Some people have the impression Pope John was a simple peasant priest raised suddenly and without preparation to the papacy. The impression continues that, once there, he was so naive about church politics and history that he summoned an ecumenical council of the church, unaware of what its outcomes might be. Some have even painted him as an innocent but bumbling fellow, out of touch with protocol and tradition.

What is more accurate, though, is that Pope John knew precisely who he was and what he was doing. From his earliest days, he had cultivated a cheerful but powerful spirituality that tied him intimately to Christ and allowed him to trust the impulses of the Holy Spirit as they arose in his heart.

He was troubled by the state of the world in the late 1950s and wanted to clarify the church's role in it. He observed poverty, the increasing threat of nuclear war, and a world still stunned by the horrors of World War II. He wondered, "Where is the Christian Church in all this?"

What was unique about the pope's call for the Second Vatican Council was that he was concerned about the world's conditions as much as he was about the church's. He wanted this council to reanimate the faith of Christians in order to allow them to contribute to the well-being of the world.

The pope had proclaimed his goal for the council to be an aggiornamento, an Italian word that he used to indicate he wanted an "updating" of the church's practices in many areas. Although conservative churchmen feared this, most bishops and theologians understood it as a mandate to move forward, to undertake reforms begun so often before but thwarted by circumstance or politics.

By BILL HUEBSCH, author of Vatican II in Plain English (Thomas More).