| Subject: A pope, but certainly no saint |
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XOX
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Date Posted: 16:06:56 04/18/05 Mon
In reply to:
XOX
's message, "The Pope has blood on his hands" on 16:04:56 04/18/05 Mon
A pope, but certainly no saint
We should mourn John Paul II, but he and the Catholic church were not without fault
Henry McDonald
Sunday April 17, 2005
The Observer
You don't have to be a bonehead loyalist bigot working in a meat factory or a Heart of Midlothian supporter to feel queasy about the fallout from Pope John Paul II's death, because the wave of Diana-esque adulation has swept even some of the most sceptical, rational voices into its slipstream, especially here in Ireland. And on this island at least the end of the third longest papacy in history has provided the enemies of liberalism with a chance to roll back the frontiers of individual conscience and personal liberty ... or think they have.
One of the most astonishing contributions was that of the normally secular, independent and always intellectually challenging Kevin Myers. In a column last week Myers used the global outpouring of grief for Pope John Paul II to lacerate centre-left liberals both at home and abroad. He berated the centre-left's scepticism about the world of faith and belief. Myers also tried tentatively to contrast the late pope's courageous stand against totalitarianism in his native Poland and across the communist dominated world with the alleged appeasement of the Soviet empire by western liberal writers and commentators.
Normally a friend and ally of this columnist, unfortunately Myers tends to forget a few things about Ireland and the rest of the Catholic world as he attempts to tendentiously link the defenders of liberalism somehow with Stalinism.
It is true of course that without John Paul II the Polish dissident movement would not have been so emboldened to stand up to one-party rule. His words to millions on his first visit home after being made Pope, 'be not afraid', had a mesmerising impact on the Polish people and were of great inspiration as well as comfort to the nascent Solidarity movement. However, it wasn't just the Catholic church which stood up to totalitarianism. Is it really a coincidence that the secular leaders of the dissident movements across the Eastern bloc, including the USSR itself, were in the main agnostic, sceptical or even atheistic intellectuals? Indeed, were and are men mistrustful of secular all-pervasive power such as Vaclav Havel, Andrei Sakharov also equally cautious about the overweening influence and dogma of spiritual utopians such as those that run the Vatican?
The Pope deserved many accolades following his death - champion of the poor, opponent of one-party dictatorships, and defender of individual human life - but there are also blots on the landscape of his career. Among the two worst are the Vatican's acquiescence in the cover-up of the paedophile priests scandals from North America to Ireland and the campaign against condom use in those parts of the developing world, principally Africa, which are stricken with Aids. John Paul II's resolute opposition to Africans protecting themselves against HIV infection by putting rubber sheaths on their private parts has put millions at risk on the continent. Nor will the genuine global grief about the passing away of a genuinely holy man erase the stain on the Vatican alongside the Irish and American hierarchies left by the sex abuse scandals.
Since the funeral in Rome there has been a wave of Arcadian reflection in Ireland, a wailing and weeping for better times past, a wish that the world had stopped moving circa 1979. Yet one of the telling things you noticed in the days just before and after John Paul II's death was the empty spaces in the pews inside churches the length and breadth of Ireland. You would have expected them to be filled to overflow with the faithful mourning their spiritual father. Their absence and the overwhelming prevalence of ageing parishioners who did turn up still point to an Irish church in crisis.
En route to the funeral of a Donegal GAA fan killed in Dublin during the county's All Ireland triumph in 1992, one of the Irish Press group's most talented photographers relayed a story to me about the papal visit to Ireland. Prior to the new Pope's arrival, journalists and photographers were summoned to the west of Ireland for a briefing about the proposed monster mass in Knock. The Catholic church had chosen one Dr Eamon Casey to talk the media through the itinerary for John Paul II's stay. Inside the Bishop of Galway's palace Dr Casey was the perfect host. He poured out generous measures of whiskey and beer for the thirsty hacks and snappers. Dr Casey also ensured his glass was overflowing with the gold stuff, which prompted my Evening Press colleague to remark that 'that's a "quare measure you're pouring for yourself there, your grace"'. To which Dr Casey replied without irony: 'Well, you journalists have your women and I have my drink.'
The loyalists who harangued Polish workers mourning the pope inside Foyle Meats, and the Hearts fans who booed during last weekend's minute silence at Hampden Park for John Paul II exposed yet again their own profound ignorance and bigotry. Yet their sectarianism should not blind anyone to the serious leadership deficiencies, dogmatism and, in the case of Aids, the lack of both compassion and reason that lie at the heart of the Catholic hierarchy. Mourning for the late Pope and expectation over the new Pope will change none of that.
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