[american colleen]

I have no idea, other than the theory that Paul VI caught a lot of grief from guys like Ottaviani (over 80) and a few others over the Novus Ordo, and he might have thought ultra-oldsters would be nothing but reactionaries.

If true, that is terrible and really, personally "stacking the deck" - and assuming that most of the younger cardinals were progressives. Seems like PPVI could have used those "reactionaries" when he promulgated HV.

The odds of an octogenarian being on cruise-control is much greater, don't you think, than a guy in his 60's?

Sure, but the Holy Spirit doesn't play into that mode of thought at all.

[sinkspur]

Sure, but the Holy Spirit doesn't play into that mode of thought at all.

The Holy Spirit works through our human natures, He doesn't supercede them. A cardinal who's out of it is going to be out of it, unless the Holy Spirit Himself takes over his body.