Old Stuff

On Misreading the Pope

United Press International's religion editor Uwe Siemon-Netto has a great article on Pope John Paul II:

Commentary: Misreading the Pope
By Uwe Siemon-Netto
UPI Religion Correspondent
From the Life & Mind Desk
Published 8/19/2002 3:53 PM
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WASHINGTON, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- After an emotional four-day visit to
Poland, Pope John Paul II headed back to the Vatican.

No, he did not stay in his native Poland.

What's so surprising about this? Only one question: Why would
professional pope watchers think the 82-year old pontiff might
chicken out of his ministry at this late stage and not return to
Rome?

Did they really believe that this man who has stood up to the
Nazis, the Communists, and a potential assassin had suddenly
turned into a petit bourgeois, who says, "Ah, it's so cozy at
home. I'll stay. Let others worry now about evangelizing the
world."

Misreading this Pope is of course a quintessentially postmodern
malady. We live in a time when it's fashionable to abandon one's
responsibilities. Husbands and wives run away from each other at
the flimsiest excuses. Parents abandon their children or just
have them killed before birth when it seems inconvenient to carry
a pregnancy to term.

Ministers break their ordination vows when their faith has turned
wobbly. For some churches, mission has become superfluous, and
the will of God, though clearly articulated in Scripture,
optional.

The zeitgeist, or spirit of time, rejects and ridicules key
Christian tenets, such as discipleship, and the sovereignty of
God over all life. But John Paul II excels precisely by not
kowtowing to the zeitgeist for one second, never mind that some
trendy folk hate him for his hard-nosed stance that man has no
right to usurp God's place, as he told his fellow Poles last
weekend.

John Paul II is relentless in remaining true to himself and his
mission. This is what makes him such an extraordinary pope,
possibly the most impressive in almost 2,000 years of church
history.

This is also why wherever this severely handicapped man shows up,
his hands twitching, saliva dripping from the side of his mouth,
millions of young people flock to him.

Some 2.7 million attended his mass in Cracow, Poland. Alright, so
he is a great national figure in his homeland. But they wouldn't
have come had he been just a prominent old gentleman in a white
frock.

They came -- as did those youngsters in Toronto recently --
because at heart they understood that John Paul had a hugely
important message to convey, though they themselves might not
accept it for their own lives; after all, all are fallible.

But the divine law written upon every human being's heart told
them -- and tells us -- that this pope is right. And Scripture
tells us that true Christian discipleship requires taking up our
particular cross. Scripture also assures us that this cross will
never be heavier than we can carry. In John Paul's case it
happens to be weighty.

"Christ did not come down from his cross," John Paul II keeps
saying, implying that as one who emulates Christ he, the pope,
will not terminate his mission until God, the sovereign of all
life, will put an end to it.

Let's face it, those Pope watchers, who keep cooking up rumors
about their man shuffling about a Polish park in felt slippers
soon, like some retired postal clerk, are simply caught up in
their own postmodern narcissism. This is why they fail to grasp
the essence of this remarkable man.

He is a Christian determined to show the world what it is like to
follow Christ. If he gave up now he'd make a mockery of his
life's work. He'd betray all those young people who surround him
wherever he appears, seeking guidance for their own lives.

Pray, what is so difficult to understand here? As long as he is
still in control of his senses, he is not going to do it. Period.

Posted by billw at August 21, 2002 04:51 PM | TrackBack