The Weekend Austalian's editorial on the Pope said most of what I'd like to say myself, so here it is -
A giant of faith and freedom on the world stage
02apr05
POPE John Paul II has been a great figure of the 20th century, an authentic giant of history who will be remembered as long as human beings value liberty or care about religion. John Paul II has been the supreme pontiff of the Catholic Church. But he has been much more than that. By the force of his extraordinary personality, the clarity of his message and his immense courage he has been a figure of vast consequence who shook the foundations of the world. While very few have agreed with every single thing he said or did, his influence on the world has been overwhelmingly positive.
John Paul II has loved God, but he has also loved human beings and regarded each human being as sacred and imbued with innate dignity, and above all deserving of freedom. His remarkable personality was forged in the crucible of the two monstrous ideologies of 20th-century Europe - Nazism and communism. He detested both, he resisted both, he understood both.
What an optimistic and resilient spirit it must have taken to begin studying for the Catholic priesthood in Poland in 1942. But no sooner was the Nazi nightmare over for Poland than the communist nightmare began. It is probably for his role in the downfall of communism that John Paul II will be most obviously remembered. Poland became at one moment the pivot of Europe, and for a time the pivot of history. It was John Paul II's instinctive and sustained support for the Polish trade union movement, Solidarity, and its exuberant and brave leader, Lech Walesa, that was critical in leading to the downfall of communism in Poland. And this in turn had a mesmerising effect on the rest of Eastern Europe. The iron curtain of Stalin's tyranny and despair, which had hung across expanding swaths of Europe since 1917, was torn back as much by the Pope as by any other individual. Indeed, with Ronald Reagan and Lech Walesa, the Pope formed an astonishing triumvirate, allied in the common cause of human freedom and human dignity.
In many ways John Paul II has been the first wholly modern Pope. Nazism and communism were quintessentially expressions of a deformed modernism and this the Pope understood profoundly. His adroit leadership during the fall of the Polish communist government answered forever Stalin's sneering question: "How many battalions has the Pope?" The Cold War seems a long way away now, but it is right to pause to remember the radical evil that communism, the true ideological twin of Nazism, represented and the immense historical project involved in its consignment to the dustbin of history.
This is not the only political challenge the Pope has had to manage in his long reign. He has always been the friend of freedom, denouncing apartheid, opposing dictatorships and yet doing so in a way which would not increase the persecution of innocent people. But of course the Pope has not seen himself primarily as a political figure. Nor would it be fair to evaluate him as such. He has been, in his own words, a sign of contradiction, a great paradox of a leader. For his kingdom was not of this world. He has always believed in the importance of this world because of its relationship to the higher order of the spiritual world. In that sense, the Pope has been two separate leaders, an astute political figure central to the power equations of his time, and a deeply contemplative and intellectual spiritual leader, whose criterion of judgment was eternity.
Much of Western opinion, while it has admired the Pope's valiant stand for political freedom, found his spirituality baffling and his moral teaching incomprehensible or downright offensive. It is fair to say that in the majority of theological and moral utterances he has made, the Pope has been condemned by majority Western opinion. But from the Pope's point of view, it has not been necessary to have the numbers. It has been much more important to be speaking the truth. No one doubts the huge physical courage of the Pope, who survived a would-be assassin's bullet in May 1981, an attempt widely believed to be the work of the Soviet KGB. It surely was another aspect of that courage to stand so trenchantly against every tenet of received opinion in the Western world.
The Pope has preached discipline, restraint and submission to legitimate authority in spiritual matters. This was never a contradiction of his insistence of human freedom in the political order. For even his view of the spiritual life has been based on the centrality of human freedom, the freedom of the human conscience to choose what is right. It is not the place of a church leader to give in to social fashion. The Western world is awash with self-indulgence and the pursuit of instant gratification. It hardly needed a church leader to tell it that this was all OK. Instead John Paul II has taken the much harder road of trying to remind the West of God, and the obligations of morality. Even those who have no religious belief can recognise that there is a benefit to society to have such a message delivered uncompromisingly by an authoritative leader.
In the Third World, the Pope's approach has been much more popular, although part of the paradox of his magnetic personality is that he is personally popular even in nations whose people overwhelmingly rejected his moral teachings. It is right to say the Pope has been conservative theologically and socially. Many people within the Catholic Church have not agreed with his teachings on birth control or sexual morality generally. But it is also worth noting that these are the traditional teachings of the Catholic Church. It is unlikely that the Pope's successor will change these teachings. And at the end of the day, people are free to be Catholics or not. John Paul II's clarity has presented people with sharp choices, and moral choices of any consequence are always uncomfortable.
But whatever judgments people make about individual positions the Pope has taken, few could fail to be moved by the courage and grandeur of his life story, or the poetry and generosity of his personality. More than any pope in history, he travelled the world, not only to teach, but in large measure simply to express a human solidarity with ordinary people the world over. When he first became Pope, at age 58, his great physical and intellectual vigour made him a naturally glamorous figure.
An actor as a young man (in underground theatre), John Paul II has always been a natural with a crowd. He loves to be with people, in large numbers and small. Despite his conservatism, his views have never been predictable along a Left-Right axis. He has fiercely opposed capital punishment, and opposed both the Gulf Wars. He has been the champion of ecumenism, becoming the first pope to visit the Rome synagogue, and apologising for the history of Christian anti-Semitism. He has energetically pursued inter-faith dialogue with all of the world's religions, understanding that in the end the religious impulse is directed to the same God.
John Paul II has been a controversial figure and the controversies will rage for many years to come. Politically, theologically, socially -- his influence has been pervasive. And he has produced a rich lode of writings for followers and critics and the merely curious to explore. But few civilised people anywhere today will feel anything but saddened at the deterioration of one of the greatest figures of our time.
A giant of faith and freedom on the world stage
02apr05
POPE John Paul II has been a great figure of the 20th century, an authentic giant of history who will be remembered as long as human beings value liberty or care about religion. John Paul II has been the supreme pontiff of the Catholic Church. But he has been much more than that. By the force of his extraordinary personality, the clarity of his message and his immense courage he has been a figure of vast consequence who shook the foundations of the world. While very few have agreed with every single thing he said or did, his influence on the world has been overwhelmingly positive.
John Paul II has loved God, but he has also loved human beings and regarded each human being as sacred and imbued with innate dignity, and above all deserving of freedom. His remarkable personality was forged in the crucible of the two monstrous ideologies of 20th-century Europe - Nazism and communism. He detested both, he resisted both, he understood both.
What an optimistic and resilient spirit it must have taken to begin studying for the Catholic priesthood in Poland in 1942. But no sooner was the Nazi nightmare over for Poland than the communist nightmare began. It is probably for his role in the downfall of communism that John Paul II will be most obviously remembered. Poland became at one moment the pivot of Europe, and for a time the pivot of history. It was John Paul II's instinctive and sustained support for the Polish trade union movement, Solidarity, and its exuberant and brave leader, Lech Walesa, that was critical in leading to the downfall of communism in Poland. And this in turn had a mesmerising effect on the rest of Eastern Europe. The iron curtain of Stalin's tyranny and despair, which had hung across expanding swaths of Europe since 1917, was torn back as much by the Pope as by any other individual. Indeed, with Ronald Reagan and Lech Walesa, the Pope formed an astonishing triumvirate, allied in the common cause of human freedom and human dignity.
In many ways John Paul II has been the first wholly modern Pope. Nazism and communism were quintessentially expressions of a deformed modernism and this the Pope understood profoundly. His adroit leadership during the fall of the Polish communist government answered forever Stalin's sneering question: "How many battalions has the Pope?" The Cold War seems a long way away now, but it is right to pause to remember the radical evil that communism, the true ideological twin of Nazism, represented and the immense historical project involved in its consignment to the dustbin of history.
This is not the only political challenge the Pope has had to manage in his long reign. He has always been the friend of freedom, denouncing apartheid, opposing dictatorships and yet doing so in a way which would not increase the persecution of innocent people. But of course the Pope has not seen himself primarily as a political figure. Nor would it be fair to evaluate him as such. He has been, in his own words, a sign of contradiction, a great paradox of a leader. For his kingdom was not of this world. He has always believed in the importance of this world because of its relationship to the higher order of the spiritual world. In that sense, the Pope has been two separate leaders, an astute political figure central to the power equations of his time, and a deeply contemplative and intellectual spiritual leader, whose criterion of judgment was eternity.
Much of Western opinion, while it has admired the Pope's valiant stand for political freedom, found his spirituality baffling and his moral teaching incomprehensible or downright offensive. It is fair to say that in the majority of theological and moral utterances he has made, the Pope has been condemned by majority Western opinion. But from the Pope's point of view, it has not been necessary to have the numbers. It has been much more important to be speaking the truth. No one doubts the huge physical courage of the Pope, who survived a would-be assassin's bullet in May 1981, an attempt widely believed to be the work of the Soviet KGB. It surely was another aspect of that courage to stand so trenchantly against every tenet of received opinion in the Western world.
The Pope has preached discipline, restraint and submission to legitimate authority in spiritual matters. This was never a contradiction of his insistence of human freedom in the political order. For even his view of the spiritual life has been based on the centrality of human freedom, the freedom of the human conscience to choose what is right. It is not the place of a church leader to give in to social fashion. The Western world is awash with self-indulgence and the pursuit of instant gratification. It hardly needed a church leader to tell it that this was all OK. Instead John Paul II has taken the much harder road of trying to remind the West of God, and the obligations of morality. Even those who have no religious belief can recognise that there is a benefit to society to have such a message delivered uncompromisingly by an authoritative leader.
In the Third World, the Pope's approach has been much more popular, although part of the paradox of his magnetic personality is that he is personally popular even in nations whose people overwhelmingly rejected his moral teachings. It is right to say the Pope has been conservative theologically and socially. Many people within the Catholic Church have not agreed with his teachings on birth control or sexual morality generally. But it is also worth noting that these are the traditional teachings of the Catholic Church. It is unlikely that the Pope's successor will change these teachings. And at the end of the day, people are free to be Catholics or not. John Paul II's clarity has presented people with sharp choices, and moral choices of any consequence are always uncomfortable.
But whatever judgments people make about individual positions the Pope has taken, few could fail to be moved by the courage and grandeur of his life story, or the poetry and generosity of his personality. More than any pope in history, he travelled the world, not only to teach, but in large measure simply to express a human solidarity with ordinary people the world over. When he first became Pope, at age 58, his great physical and intellectual vigour made him a naturally glamorous figure.
An actor as a young man (in underground theatre), John Paul II has always been a natural with a crowd. He loves to be with people, in large numbers and small. Despite his conservatism, his views have never been predictable along a Left-Right axis. He has fiercely opposed capital punishment, and opposed both the Gulf Wars. He has been the champion of ecumenism, becoming the first pope to visit the Rome synagogue, and apologising for the history of Christian anti-Semitism. He has energetically pursued inter-faith dialogue with all of the world's religions, understanding that in the end the religious impulse is directed to the same God.
John Paul II has been a controversial figure and the controversies will rage for many years to come. Politically, theologically, socially -- his influence has been pervasive. And he has produced a rich lode of writings for followers and critics and the merely curious to explore. But few civilised people anywhere today will feel anything but saddened at the deterioration of one of the greatest figures of our time.
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