Ian BoyneSOME CYNICS are asking, why all this adulation, hero worship, outpouring of grief and 'excessive, cloying media attention' to an old, frail man who has died at the ripe age of 84? They ask: How much power and influence did he really wield, anyway?
Their questions remind one of the now famous and foolish one posed by Stalin who once asked dismissively, "How many divisions does the Pope have?" He should have been alive to witness the influence that Pope John Paul II had in tearing down the edifice of totalitarianism that he so carefully and cunningly built. There is a power, prestige and grandeur that the papacy enjoys, whoever fills the office, but John Paul brought a special aura and magnetism to the office. He was perfect for the Age of Television and Mass Media and he played it to the hilt right up to his death.
LARGEST GATHERING LEADERS
The measure of the man is attested to not only by the fact that his funeral on Friday attracted the largest
gathering of world leaders in recent memory, including the presence of the president of the world's only superpower; but even the last standing Marxist-Leninist leader in the world, Cuban President Fidel Castro, an atheist, went to Mass to celebrate the Pope's life, despite the fact that John Paul helped significantly to crush an empire on which he depended.
The glorification of militarism and hard power by the Bush administration and its neoconservative ideologues, and its arrogance in the use of raw power have highlighted the need for a different approach to global politics. The alienation of the United States in the global community and its isolation by its European allies right after its illegal war on Iraq over the supposed existence of weapons of mass destruction have demonstrated the limits of hard power.
Reputable scholars writing in the leading journal on international relations, Foreign Affairs, had warned the Bush administration before it attacked Iraq that it was taking daredevil risks with its credibility and moral legitimacy by pursuing a war without broad international support, and one stoutly opposed by the United Nations and Western Europe. Joseph Nye, the distinguished scholar from Harvard, has been writing about the importance of soft power the ideas, ideals, principles and values as opposed to just military strength. The U.S. ignored all such appeals to sanity and rationality, and Zogby international polls show some astounding numbers in terms of the percentage of the global community which had lost respect for the United States.
The fact that the United States has had to eat crow and that President Bush had to try to patch up relationship with the U.N. and Europe show that even with the finest military hardware in the world and the highest expenditure on arms than all the European countries combined, if you don't have moral authority there are real limits to your power. That is what the papacy has had an abundance of moral authority. There is no world leader who carries the moral authority and weight of the Pope of Rome. John Paul II magnified that power many times over, especially in an era of unilateralism.
John Paul brought a political balance to the global stage that was as refreshing as it was rare. He did not suffer the moral inconsistencies of President Bush who talked glibly about freedom and democracy while nurturing dictators in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The Pope took a plague-on-all-your-houses approach to global politics. When he said he stood for freedom and liberation he meant it. It was not a selective morality. He stood sharply against totalitarian communism, spoke out for the liberation of his Polish people but he also stood for the liberation of the Palestinian people as well as the peoples of the Third World, held in debt peonage by the IMF and the World Bank.
His was a voice of freedom for all. He spoke out against neo-liberal capitalism which proclaimed freedom and dignity for the propertied classes but which wakened the state which was supposed to protect the weak and vulnerable. In the post-Cold War era when capitalism and the market had triumphed globally, drawing even the formerly recalcitrant developing nations into the web of global capitalism, thus weakening their voice of resistance, the Pope continued to rally for the oppressed and marginalised in those societies. When the state was weakening and its leaders had in effect abandoned the people to the vagaries of the market under the guise of the logic of liberalisation and globalization, the Pope stood firm in his conviction that equity and justice were non-negotiable.. John Paul was the voice of conscience for the world's poor and oppressed. They have lost a most potent and valuable ally.
A first-rate and profound philosopher, his practical actions were deeply rooted in his theoretical refection and commitments, and many of those who criticise his theological conservatism(i.e. his stance on contraception, abortion, homosexuality, mandatory priestly celibacy, stem cell research and women in the priesthood) don't understand the nuances of his philosophical system. The leading media anchors and commentators in the United States, for example, don't usually do well in covering complex religious and philosophical issues and, therefore, they have a hard time digesting things which are n not easily given to sound bytes and aphorisms. Unfortunately, it is these networks?ABC, CBS, NBC?as well as cable companies?Fox, CNN and MSNBC?which many of us rely on for our news. The BBC is more sophisticated in these matters.
While acknowledging the Pope's enormous contributions in variety of areas, many American commentators keep referring to his unfavourable report card in so far as the American Catholic church is concerned. It is a fact that over 70 per cent of American Catholics disagree with the Pope on issues such as contraception, abortion, the prohibition on premarital sex, the conservative stance on divorce and remarriage, and priestly celibacy as well as barring women from the priesthood.
I, of course, as a non-Catholic have many theological disagreements with the Catholic church and the former Pontiff. I am deeply concerned about the effects of his teaching against contraception in places like Africa and Latin America. But I understand the underpinnings of Catholic theology and philosophy, and am not silly enough to believe that if the Pope was not swinging with every social trend in America, he was a dud and oppressive to his people. How, many ask incredulously, did the Pope rally so hard for freedom in Eastern Europe and did not take that revolution of freedom to women in his own church or to gay men or to those men who don't have the gift of celibacy but who want to serve their church?
People become Catholics because Catholicism has a certain view of ecclesiology. If you radically disagree with the Catholic view of church Government and church authority, then rather than trying to remake the Catholic Church why not become a Protestant? Of course, liberal Catholics will say that matters such as abortion, the ban on female priests, priestly celibacy are not at the heart of Catholicism. But the authority of the Bishop of Rome is. While the doctrine of papal infallibility was not always in the church, the view that the Bishop of Rome is authoritative and that the church is not a democracy goes back two thousand years.
The idea of the Vicar of Christ who is reputedly guided by the Holy Spirit being led from below and pressured democratically is as incongruous as it is ridiculous. Pope John Paul forced Catholics to think about what it meant to be distinctly Catholic. For while he was very ecumenical he made it clear that he believed in a special role for the Catholic communion. The issue of ecclesiastical authority is at the heart of the reason why despite the Pope's efforts, the breach with the Eastern Orthodox churches was never repaired and why there was one dream he never fulfilled?to visit Russia. That was not because of the Russian communists, but because of the opposition and stance of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Pope used the church's authority to clamp down on leftist Liberation Theologians in Latin America as well as liberal Catholic theologians in Europe. He strongly opposed the relativistic and postmodernist view of truth and he reinforced the importance of doctrine while offering the hand of fellowship to other believers.
His encyclicals Dies Domini (the Lord's Day) as well as Mane Nobiscum Domine (Stay With Us Lord) emphasised the importance of Sunday sacredness and the Sunday Eucharistic. The genius of Pope John Paul 11 was that he strengthened the identity of faithful Catholics, reinforced their distinctive beliefs, along with the veneration of Mary (of which he was Chief Devotee), while at the same time impressing Protestants, Anglicans, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Jews and members of other world religions.
He built alliances with the Jews and Muslims and apologised to everyone whom the church sinned against, including people of African descent. He urged the Muslims, with whom his church has had a sometime violent encounter, to work with him to build a ?Civilisation of love?.
Interestingly, the new Catechism of the Catholic Church now includes Muslims as members of the community of the saved: ?The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; those who profess to hold the faith of Abraham and together with us they adore the one merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day?.
Seventh-day Adventists see the papacy as the dreaded Beast of Revelation which will once again threaten religious liberty, despite its endearing behaviour today. Says its chief scholar on the Sabbath, the Italian theologian Professor Samuelle Bacchiocchi in a recent Endtime Newsletter: ?The political, social, ecclesiastical and ecumenical achievements of Pope John Paul 11 have enhanced in an unprecedented way the influence of the papacy both in the political and religious world. The global vision and acceptance of the pope as the legitimate leader of a New World Order reminds us of the prophetic end time vision of Revelation 13:3: ?All the world marvelled and followed the Beast?.
Whatever one's apocalyptic schema, John Paul's unparalleled influence, charisma and moral authority cannot be questioned. The world has lost a truly great leader and human being who stood out in an age suffering the glaring absence of outstanding leaders.
Ian Boyne is a veteran journalist. You can send your comments to ianboyne1@yahoo.com or infocus@gleanerjm.com
