AFAIK, JPII paid almost no attention to episcopal appointments. Bernardin and Weakland flourished under JPII.
As a rule, the men appointed as bishops are mentally well-prepared to deal with the world as it was forty to sixty years ago.
It is just dawning on America’s bishops that the Democrats are pro-abortion.
On November 14, 1996, Bernardin died from pancreatic cancer at the age of 68.
Archbishop Weakland reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 on April 2, 2002. His retirement was accepted on May 24, 2002.
I don’t know if he is still alive today.