It is not difficult to find a common basis for a
conspiracy theory in the list of implicated parties
Tlachtga lists above, i.e. in the commonality of their political orientation.
The pressures for reform applied to the
Roman Catholic church in the twentieth century were perhaps the greatest in 500 years, roughly the time since this ultra conservative organization elected its' last non-italian
CEO, the Dutchman
Adrian IV whose 1 year reign perhaps reflects the change of pace from the 16th to the twentieth century.
The
Holy See was silent thru the Nazi occupation of Europe as might be expected given its' position as a state within a then fascist state even if it is not quite what one might expect on the basis of Christian principle. This silence was also maintained at the time by
Karol Wotyla who lived a few miles from Auschwitz during the peak of its' operation, a silence for which he went to extrodinary lengths to atone as
Pope.
By the 1960s with world-wide change in progress and large numbers of catholics subjects of the totalitarian Stalinist regimes, the Church began to make the accomodations to those principles which have been its defining characteristic since it became a state religion under
Constantine. These progressive reforms culminated in the changes codified in
Vatican Council II.
The changes introduced by
John XXIII and whose support continued under
Paul VI were wildly unpopular among Catholic conservatives and remain so to this day. By the late nineteen seventies the progressive upsurge of the postwar era had begun to give way to its dialectical partner, a movement that can perhaps be marked as beginning with the election of
Richard Nixon in
1968 and which was well advanced by the time of Cardinal Lucianis elevation. His chosen reigning name, the first official act of any pope, reflects his stated intention to continue the reforms of his predecessors.
For an analysis of the political impact of the termination of Albino Cardinal Lucianis papacy see
"Pope John Paul II: a political obituary"¹.
¹ BTW, In it's April 21, 2005 the same site gave two articles on the elevation of
Benedict XVI. Besides the informative content these are excellent examples of non-translation. The author is fluent in English and German, and neither article is any way a translation of the other. The new pope is of course German. 'Der Panzerkardinal' may give some hint of the entertainment ahead mit diesem Pabst.