European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 21, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 column the stars and strips monday. September 21, 1987 William f. Buckley or. Pope sometimes appears of be poorly briefed consider inc mischievous rank Llucy pcs of words used differently. On the same Page of inc sept. 17 new York times in unifies covering the pipe s Lour one sees How difficult it often is la make . Archbishop Weakland of Milwaukee was demonstrating with the Pope about his failure to fully understand what is going in in America. The  said the Barcli hiphop. Referring to his fellow Ameri can catholics having climbed the social and economic ladder find themselves More inclined to look Al the intrinsic Worth of an argument proposed by inc teachers in the Church than to accept it on the basis of inc authority  in another article a reporter recalled lie idler sent by the Pope to his Bishops last october on the subject of homosexual Ity. In that letter the Pope defined any inclination in Ihal sexual direction As a More or less Strong tendency. Toward an intrinsic moral evil so a year later the Pope hears one of his Bishops suggest that that which is intrinsic in Church doctrine is something More reliably defined by the affluent society than by the Maisl Crim the leaching authority of inc Church. Weakland clearly meant to my the empirical Worth of an  the Pope had just finished de Claring something of being intrinsically wrong. What happened is that by differ ent uses of language the two men passed each other on different sides of inc Street. The Pope is bound to come upon such difficulties in serious Semi serious and entirely unserious situations. The other Day As i listened to Bright and passionate exchanges on the Mailer of the Pope and the visit with Kurt Waldheim one Young intellectual was making the Point that in the exercise of his office the Pope could not permit extrinsic concerns to land in the Way of the exercise of his diplomatic duties. The older Man said no you can t say that. In the Case of Wald him. There was nothing that the Pope could accomplish that matched the unnecessary damage done at the diplomatic level a fronting the jewish world. 1 think his is True. If Waldheim had emerged from inc Vatican to confess his sins of duplicity assuming there was Noah . Rosenthal ing Graver than thai thai he was guilty of the Pope s pastoral obligations might have retroactively justified what he did. As it stands the Pope accomplished nothing. And unnecessarily Hurt Many feelings. He cannot reasonably be expected to be briefed on All mailers. In seemed did i1 not As though he were Blessing the Sanctuary movement in the Southwest Well if he was he was condoning civil disobedience doing so moreover in a Field in which Caesar s authority is Manifest a natron that is nol Sovereign Over ils own Borders is nol a Sovereign nation. In Al most every reference to economic policy the Pope appears under briefed. It happens at trivial Levels. A few years ago while shooting a documentary in the sistine Chapel David Niven Mal Colm Muggridge my wife and i had an audience Wilh Pope John Paul on being presented to Malcolm muggy Ridge inc most prominent Catholic con Vert in inc English speaking world he Pope spoke a yes. You Are radio not it is nol easy to contrive an appropriate answer 10 such a question under any circumstances. Clearly the Pope though thai Muggridge was somebody else. He was presented Ilien to David Niven arguably the most recognizable movie Star in the world. A the holy father said you were the Friend of Paul i David Nivert s theatrical training came 10 his Rescue. With a slight nod of his head in tones redolent with deferential acclaim David Niven replied thai he had the greatest admiration for Paul i about whom in could safely be said David Niven knew approximately nothing at All. It is a Bravura performance inc Pope Puis on m these International Tours. 11 was counted up somewhere that he left Rome with 96 prepared speeches. The input As inc hackers say is prodigious 96 speeches on 96 subjects delivered by someone who is vaguely thought to think himself infallible on All matters to be delivered in a country with the richest must enacting most querulous critical heterogeneous. Ii Al Cal Ristic population in the world. Thai s a tall order and reminds us Why. So often the holy father begs the special Benediction of the holy ghost Oil Over them either War on drugs bogged Down in Senate panel in new York City a Man decided to hold a one person observation of the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution so he plucked his naturalization certificate out of his files. He looked at his picture on the certificate remembered every moment of that Day 36 years ago. To was Good paper still White and stiff and fresh and there was satisfaction in Quality so lasting it seemed to show the government s own sense of respect for the Occa Sion. He decided to Frame it. Then like m Illions of other americans he turned on the to to watch the hearings on judge Robert Bork s nomination to the supreme coun and he again Felt a sense of warm approval for the Constitution and the governmental machinery of the United states. How filling that this historically Rich debate on the Constitution is going on now the members of the Senate judiciary commit tee ask sober thoughtful questions. They obviously want to show they re doing a Good Job. Then unwelcome and annoying came a though to Dampen the glow about the senatorial performance. On another matter at least As important As the Nomi nation of a supreme court Justice but never televised that same committee is not doing 115 Job Al All. That Job has to do with creating for the first time a National strategy for what used to be called the War against drugs. To jog the memory a Bill that would Gilic substance and direction to the War has been pending in the Senate judiciary commit lace and pending and pending and pending. The anti narcotics Bill would pull together inc work of the 11 Cabinet departments. 32 Federal agencies and five other government funded agencies. Believe it or not there is now no real coordination among them on planning or spending no National plan supervision or priorities. Law enforcement goals of stopping drugs at the source the countries in which they Are being grown often collide with diplomatic and political goals of keeping our drug growing allies from becoming Loo hateful toward us. Nobody decides priorities on funds How important the fight Agassi drugs abroad is As com pared to Border controls and treatment centers. There is no National director to pull things together and Lell the people what our plans arc and what is being done. The president says he is responsible. He is also the commander in chief but does not find in unreasonable to have a Secretary of defense. The Bill introduced by sen. Joseph r. Biden or. Chairman of the committee is no revolution. In would create a National anti narcotics director on a Cabinet level with instructions to create and coordinate a National strategy. Just a Little step but it is Tike the Tarsi rung on a ladder difficult to climb up without in. Because of the objections of Buiva cratic Lurf Pru lectors. President Reagan opposes the Bill and in i9sj lived a similar measure. But now that in has sunk into some congressional minds thai drugs and the spread of aids Are closely related and thai aids carrying addicts May infect other people including some people the lawmakers might even know in is possible enough votes could in mustered for a run Gressional override of a veto that is if in Ever gets out of inc committee and is put 10 a Voie on the Senate floor. Right now the opponents of the Bill have lord in up. Sen. Strom Thurmond . Helping the adminis i ration has sidetracked it by threatening to attach amendments that have nothing to do with the Bill such As a Federal death penalty. Democrats cannot complain too loudly about irrelevance because they sometimes Tike to lie up administration backed Bills with unrelated amendments of Ihei rown. And the death Penally amendment if it gets to the Senate floor would fact a Fili Busk led by Carl m. Levin a Mich. That would kill the anti narcotics Bill. Which is the purpose of the amendments. V of see How it goes. Biden says he is going to do his Best id gel a vote in inc Senate but that the current situation could fairly be described As an  it could also fairly be described As one More example of the use of parliamentary rules to kill important legislation. But enough. Sci s turn on he to again and listen to Llic senators. There just won t be the same glow