Consider the world when 26 years ago last fall—October 1978—the College of Cardinals selected Karol Wojtyla to be the Catholic Church's 256th pontiff.

More than one-half of the world's population of 2005 had not been born when John Paul first donned the papal robes. There was no EU (only the European Economic Community), no European Parliament, no euro.

The Shah of Iran was still in power. Ronald Reagan had not been elected president of the United States, nor had Margaret Thatcher become prime minister of England. The eastern bloc of Europe was still behind the Iron curtain, ruled by the communist fist of the USSR. The Berlin Wall still divided West Germany from its eastern counterpart. The Soviet Union had not invaded Afghanistan.

Indira Gandhi was prime minister of India. Fernando Marcos ruled the Philippines. Nelson Mandela was still in a South African prison.

Although e-mail existed in a limited form, the word "Internet" had not yet been used. Prince Charles had not married Princess Diana. And AIDS had not yet been identified.

Now, AIDS is a household word, and it is ravaging the continent of Africa, where nearly 1/10th of the 1.2 billion Roman Catholics reside. Europe is united, but it isn't a Catholic union. In fact, in spite of the weighty influence of the Polish pope, crafters of the new European Constitution were not persuaded to even acknowledge the continent's Christian roots.

The Catholic Church in Europe has been disintegrating. Radical Islam has come from nearly invisible status in 1978 to the point at which it can now hold a gun to the head of the Western world. Meanwhile, science is regularly challenging the world, and the Vatican, with difficult new ethical questions.

George Weigel, a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, wrote this thought-provoking piece on the factors to be considered by the assembled cardinals who will select (most likely, one of their own) the Catholic's Church's 257th pontiff: "In addition to these weighty questions, the next conclave will be shaped by dramatically altered expectations of the papacy. The world and the church no longer think of the pope as the CEO of Catholic Church Inc. Thanks to John Paul II, the world and the church now expect the pope to exercise a global ministry of religious presence and moral witness.

"At the same time, influential cardinal-electors believe that John Paul II has been more successful in articulating a robust, compassionate Catholic orthodoxy than in embedding that vision in the church's practice. Finding a man who can do both—bring the church to the world in a compelling way, and reform the church's discipline—is the great 'personality' issue the cardinals must resolve" ("A Crossroad for the Catholic Church," The Washington Post, p. A19, February 3, 2004).