In some ways it seems inappropriate to mourn the death of Pope John Paul II even though we feel sad to lose such a tireless champion of liberty and peace. After all, this man of God is surely now in the divine presence, relieved at last of the suffering he accepted as integral to his spiritual journey.
Like many Catholics, I didn’t always agree with his positions on contraception, divorce, homosexuality and other issues that estranged many from the faith or are quietly ignored by others.
Change in the Catholic Church has always been glacial. We may not even see much change from the next pope, whoever is chosen by the Conclave of Cardinals in the coming weeks.
But the church of my childhood bore little resemblance to the church of today. There actually have been huge changes although some were just window dressing, attempts to make the religion more palatable to young people.
The most substantive changes were made by Pope John XXIII, father of the ecumenical movement, a successful attempt to heal long-standing rifts between the Catholic Church and Protestant denominations. It’s hard to believe that until then it was deemed a sin to attend services, even weddings and funerals, at any other church or synagogue. It was hard for me to justify disrespecting good people of other faiths, and I still can’t accept the notion that only members of a certain church will find salvation.
Pope John XXIII got rid of a great deal of those ideas along with certain rituals like fasting before receiving Holy Communion and not eating meat on Fridays. I was once suspended from Marymount for arguing with the nuns about the list of banned books and movies. I had no problem with them teaching religion as history, but to deny me the right to read great literature because it might contain something that opposed church teaching was just protectionism run amok. Movies of that era were still regulated by the Hayes Office and absolutely devoid of sexual content or foul language. Bedroom sets contained only twin beds and the most passionate kissing was accomplished with closed lips.
As part of the ecumenical movement, the Mass was translated into English, or the native language of the individual country. I sang in the choir and learned everything in Latin, a graceful, if dead, language. The liturgy and hymns had a majesty in Latin that was lost in translation. There was something unifying about walking into any Catholic church anywhere in the world and hearing the service (all but the sermon) in exactly the same way. That, sadly, has been lost.
As the papacy passed to John Paul II, we saw the office becoming more involved with world affairs, speaking out against tyranny, militarism and oppression. Having lived through the Nazi occupation of Europe and the subsequent communism takeover in his native Poland, he urged his countrymen to resist. Many say he was the most influential force in Eastern Europe’s independence.
Even those who were disappointed in some of his writings expressed great affection for the pontiff. As one of his aides once said, American Catholics liked the singer better than the song.
Experts predict John Paul’s successor will most likely be a conservative, unlikely to make serious changes on issues of celibacy, ordination of women and contraception, much less same-sex marriage. The notion that priests be allowed to marry would be relatively easy to change as historically that was the case. For the first 10 centuries of the church, priests were married. Even St. Peter had a wife. And today, priests who convert to Catholicism after being ordained in Protestant churches are allowed to remain married. This might help heal a church still reeling from the abuse scandal.
Other experts say the time may be right to elect a pontiff from the Southern hemisphere: Latin America, Africa or Asia.
Given the AIDS pandemic in Africa, might not an African pope be more inclined to ease the church’s ban on contraception, allowing and even encouraging sex education and the use of condoms to prevent the spread of deadly disease?
Whoever is chosen will have a tough act to follow. Through his extensive traveling and meetings with world leaders, John Paul II earned the respect of Catholics and non-Catholics alike for his outspoken condemnation of war and his unflagging support for the poor and oppressed.
May he rest in peace and may his successor reign in a more peaceful world.