September 26, 1977, marks the eightieth birthday of Giovanni Battista Montini. This does not make him the oldest pope of this century by any means. The first pope to die in the twentieth century was Leo XIII, who was ninety-three and who finished a good part of his well-known work after eighty. No man, fortunately, knows how long he will live, and Paul VI has mentioned several times that he cannot expect to be about for long. But this is mostly the wise insight of any elderly human being. (I myself have no doubt that the character of Paul VI is such that he would resign were he seriously incapacitated.) In any case, change of power, not least that of ecclesiastical power, remains one of the most fascinating of cultural questions. And Paul holds whatjs by far the oldest continuing office in the world.