"Like a slap in the face"

Archbishop Jean Jadot has died.
Requiescat in pace.

Archbishop Jean Jadot, the chief papal representative to the United States in the 1970s... died Wednesday in Brussels. He was 99...
The pope had plucked him from relative obscurity to press the American church to carry out the reforms of Vatican II, over whose final sessions the pope had presided...
Archbishop Jadot turned what had been a largely ceremonial position into a bully pulpit for the seven years ending in 1980. ...
Bishops and other church leaders railed at what was seen as rabble-rousing by Archbishop Jadot, and he received a stream of anonymous hate mail. A close friend in Rome told him “they” were “out to get him,” ... he was responsible for the appointments of more than 100 new bishops, Dr. Dick [his friend and biographer] said. At one time, Dr. Dick said, more than a third of all American bishops were Archbishop Jadot’s choices. They were called “Jadot’s boys.” ...
With time, conservative bishops appointed under the papacy of John Paul II largely replaced “Jadot’s boys.” But some critics still say that the church’s sex scandals are linked to appointments made by Archbishop Jadot, saying they were ill advised.

Dr. Dick, who discussed the subject with Archbishop Jadot, responded in the interview that the scandals surprised and saddened the archbishop but that he accepted no blame for them....
In the spring of 1973, he accepted Pope Paul VI’s request to be his envoy to the United States. The pope told him he was chosen partly because he was not part of the Vatican bureaucracy, and thus might not be as pliable in the hands of powerful American bishops.

Although Archbishop Jadot strongly adhered to most [isn't that special?] of the church’s teachings, including its opposition to abortion, his willingness to leave some questions, like artificial contraception, to individual consciences rankled some church leaders...

Despite widespread speculation that he would be named a cardinal, it never happened. Then his successor, Archbishop Pio Laghi, who had appointed conservative bishops, was named a cardinal on May 29, 1991.

That day, after lunch, Archbishop Jadot said to Dr. Dick, “It is a slap in my face.”