'Isolated' Pope's answer to his critics

From Alan McElwain in 'Rome
POPE PAUL'S visit next November to attend episcopal conferences in the Philippines and Australia is seen as a forthright answer to those of his critics who contend that he keeps himself too isolated from his bishops.
Cardinal Suenens, the Belgian Primate, among others, has urged him to maintain much closer contact with the bishops. Now that he has added a completely new dimension to the pattern of his trips abroad, the Pope obviously intends to do so. He could hardly be much closer to bishops than sitting in with them while they discuss their local problems.
November will mark the first time he has left Italy specifically toparticipiate in episcopal conferences. The trip will take him to Manila, where Far Eastern bishops from a number of countries will be meeting, and Sydney, where the Australian, New Zealand and Pacific Islands (Oceania) bishops will be in session.
Pope Paul will be the first Pope in history to visit the Far East or Australia. The journey, the longest he has made, will be his ninth beyond Italy since he succeeded the late Pope John on June 21, 1963.
His attendance at both meetings underlines the growing stature of episcopal conferences in their own territory and the Pope's willingness to put into practice the whole spirit of episcopal "collegiality", or the right of the bishops to share with the Pope in the direct government of the Church.
The Vatican has officially described the purpose of the Pope's journey as "to study, in the spirit of collegiality, some important pastoral problems" in the Far East and Oceania.
Only recently, Pope Paul spoke to the advisory council of international bishops ap pointed to aid the Synod of Bishops' Secretariat in Rome of the "immense benefit of the bishops' participation in the Church's government." He also repeated what he had said in an earlier Apostolic Letter—that he wanted to profit more and more from "the comfort of their presence, help from their experience and support from their councils and the weight of their authority".
His visit to the Philippines and Australia was announced on May 29, the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. With it, he will have visited all the world's continents.
His acceptance of invitations to attend episcopal conferences will undoubtedly mean other visits of a similar nature to countries where he has not yet been. These could include France. where the Hierarchy has been anxious to welcome him for some time, and England. where there was much disappointment when he did not attend, as had been widely expected, the opening of the new Liverpool Cathedral a few years ago.
Two of Pope Paul's previous visits outside Italy were to International Eucharistic Congresses in Bombay in 1964 and Bogota, Colombia, in 1968. It had been accepted in Vatican circles that, if he did not go to Australia earlier, the Pope was almost certain to attend the International Eucharistic Congress in Melbourne in 1973.
In 1964, the Pope began his travels when he went to the Holy Land and became the first Pope to leave the confines of Italy since Pius VII was exiled to Fontainbleau, France, by Napoleon in 1812. Also, from that moment, he became what he still likes to be called today —the "Pilgrim Pope".
In 1965, he made his celebrated one-day visit to New York to address the United Nations General Assembly and issue his impassioned "No more war, war never again" plea to the world.
On May 13, 1967, the Pope flew to Fatima, Portugal, to pray for peace at the shrine where three shepherd children had reported seeing the Virgin Mary 50 years before. On July 26-27, 1967, he visited Istanbul, Turkey, warmly renewing contact With Patriach Athenagoras and "reaffirming the Church's faith in the basic principles formulated by the early ecumenical councils at Ephesus, Nicaea, Constantinople and Chalcedonia".
On June 10, 1969, Pope Paul made a one-day visit to Geneva to visit, in a spirit of Christian unity, the World Council of Churches headquarters and also the International Labour Organisation.
His last visit was from July 31 to August 2 last year. when he visited Uganda, Africa, for ceremonies honouring the Uganda Martyrs, whom earlier he had canonised in St. Peter's Basilica, and also to mediate in the BiafraNigeria conflict.
While he is in Australia, Pope Paul will take part in the bicentenary celebrations of Captain Cook's discovery of that country's east coast. He naturally looks forward to meeting as many people as possible from all sections of the community, but, naturally, is particularly anxious to be among his fellow-Italians. Australia takes more migrants from Italy than any other country except Britain and the Pope has always taken a keen interest in her migration 'policy.
By a coincidence, he gave a private audience to the Australian Minister for Immigration, Mr. Phillip Lynch, just three days before the announcement of his forthcoming journey was made. Mr. Lynch asked him about the prospects of a visit to Australia and Pope Paul said he hoped to go out there— but he didn't mention a date. Popes, of course, do not usually jump their own guns or make their own public announcements.
Cardinal Sir Norman Gilroy, Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, who has announced that he will resign when he reaches his 75th birthday, on January 22 next year, will have been the leading figure in planning the Pope's visit to Sydney.
Pope Paul likes to keep his time abroad to an absolute minimum. Vatican circles say, however, that his ManilaSydney journey could keep him away for up to two weeks. The visit, incidentally, will be the first on which he has departed from a onecountry-at-a-time formula.