Pope John Paul II - Conscience of the Christian world
His demise was distinguished by the strength of character which typified his reign for the past quarter of a century as leader of the Catholic Church and a colossal influential political figure.
The Pope’s potent legacy began with his historic elevation to leader of the world’s Catholics in October 1978. The 58-year-old Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla became the first non-Italian Pope in 455 years.
The new Pope’s roots, Catholic and Polish, to a large extent fashioned the religious and world leader he would become.
His unswerving support for the Solidarity movement in Poland was a pivotal factor in the process that resulted in the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. He also roundly criticised the United States and its allies for the Gulf war.
In his utterances, which sought always to redress injustice, Pope John Paul II was a champion of the socially marginalised and those suffering under harsh and inhumane regimes throughout the world.
The late Pontiff was the essence of “God’s politician”, through his relations with other potent world leaders, from Bill Clinton to Mikhail Gorbachev; Nelson Mandela to Fidel Castro, and religious figures from the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Dalai Lama.
Such was the influence of his authority, and the stature he commanded, that even China, which broke off relations with the Vatican in 1951, expressed concern for his well-being.
He sought to extend his pastoral vocation to horizons beyond the Vatican and became the most travelled Pope ever.
Obviously, for people in this country, his visit here in 1979 dominates their memories of his pontificate, especially those who were privileged to be at one of the several venues where he appeared.
His visit here galvanised an unprecedented fervour, noticeably among young people, which was more a tribute to the charismatic character of the man himself than the institution he represented.
It was on that occasion, in Drogheda, that he so dramatically intervened in the conflict in Northern Ireland. The Pontiff appealed to the Provisional IRA to reject violence in a gesture which will resonate throughout history. Unfortunately, his “on my knees, I beg you” plea went totally unheeded and the carnage he hoped would cease continued.
The Pope served his pontificate in a time of fundamental change in the world, both in politics and society; the former he would have influenced, the latter he abhorred in many respects and resisted without ambivalence.
His was an authoritarian style of leadership and the centralisation of power in the Vatican ensured that any semblance of dissent from traditional Catholic thinking was never entertained.
To seek to evaluate the footprint Pope John Paul II left on the world he so influenced, is to attempt to appraise an enigma. He embraced with enthusiasm modern technology, travel, and especially television, but remained an unrepentant arch-conservative in matters theological.
It was in this regard that his critics had fertile ground, especially his unequivocal attitude towards sexual morality, celibacy, divorce, abortion and the use of condoms to combat AIDS.
His adamant opposition to women becoming priests and his uncompromising, unrelenting stance towards issues such as homosexuality made those who would have favoured a more liberal attitude from the Vatican despair.
Apart from those fundamental questions, it was difficult for many not concerned with matters of theology to reconcile the Vatican’s seeming rejection of liberation theology with those priests who dynamically sought to rid their people of the excesses of repressive regimes.
Undoubtedly, Pope John Paul II presided over the Church during one of its darkest hours, when child sexual abuse afflicted parishes almost on a global footing.
Its repercussions, and the appalling lax attitude of hierarchies - who in many cases refused to recognise the abuse, causing many to question their church and their faith - still resonate in this country.
However his decades in the Vatican are viewed and evaluated, the late Pope cannot be faulted for bringing a more human aspect to the papal role for the world’s one billion Catholics.
Throughout the decades he wore the Fisherman’s Ring, John Paul II led the Catholic Church in the mould of the Pope he was - fashioned by his Polish background, his strengths, weaknesses, ambition and his blind spots.
He could not do otherwise, and the world will eventually judge his stewardship of the Catholic Church and his influence on world events with the benefit and hindsight of history.
Evangelist Billy Graham once described him as “the strong conscience of the whole Christian world”.
Such a description would be a fitting epitaph for a man uncompromising in his beliefs.
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