Before JPI was named, there were three odds-on favorites: one was an expert on ecumenicalism; the second represented the third-world; and, the last, was anticommunist from a communist country. JPI won and died a month later. Years later, some indicated that JPI was a "compromise" candidate in that everybody knew he wouldn't last long (though no one could have predicted only a month) and that the differences between the three divergent paths that each of the other strong candidates represented would be worked about by the time the next pope would have to be elected.
They got that chance to reconcile those directional differences a month later and the anticommunist won. The college of cardinals was convinced that it would be best for the church to move in the direction of fighting communism (which denied Christians worship) than deal with the problems of a rapidly growing church in the poorest parts of the world or with the philosophical issues involved in broadening ecumenical relationships.
The question of direction that the next pope takes this church is just as important as the winner of the last presidential race as it will set the tone for where the church goes in the 21st century. I think that beyond demographics of growth, the issues involving reconciling medical and religious ethics against exponential technological growth will be the more explosive than the impact on the church of the advent of the birth control pill. The death of Terri Schiavo and all its ramifications paralleling the final days of the Pope were not coincidental but providential.