The passing of a giant

ヨハネ・パウロ2世を悼む

    John Paul was more than just the spiritual leader of the 1-billion-member church; he was a historic world figure who played a key role in ending the Cold War and re-establishing the Catholic Church as a force in politics and international affairs.

    Yet for all his dynamism and readiness to challenge secular authority, the pope was rigid and doctrinaire: He tolerated no challenges within his church. That too is a legacy his successor must face as the Catholic Church enters the 21st century.

    Archbishop Karol Wojtyla of Krakow, Poland, was named pope in 1978. His selection followed a tumultuous year in which Pope Paul VI died after 15 years in office, and his successor, John Paul I, died after 33 days as pope.

    When Pope John Paul II emerged at the age of 58, he was the youngest pope in 125 years. A Pole, he was the first non-Italian to be named pope in 455 years.

    John Paul broke with tradition in big ways and small. He skied. He mingled with visitors to St. Peter's Square, worked the crowds during his travels in the "popemobile" and in the flesh.

    More significantly, he preached reconciliation. Throughout his papacy, John Paul reached out to Jews and reminded his church of the ways it brought suffering to them.

    The Vatican formally recognized Israel in 1993. Visiting Syria in May 2001, he became the first pope to enter a mosque. In Greece, he apologized for wrongs committed against Orthodox Christians. He visited the Holy Land to find his roots and preach the unity of the three great religions.

    The last images of the pope, silent and still, were distant from those of much of his papacy. He was a dynamo. He wrote more than 14 encyclicals, or major statements of Catholic theology. The most traveled pope in history, he visited more than 120 countries, ranging from traditional Catholic nations, such as the Philippines and Mexico, to Japan.

    While he pressed missionaries to expand the church and seek out the faithful in Africa and Asia, he would visit tiny Guam, saying that no diocese should be neglected.

    While he was the shepherd for his entire church, as a Pole he paid particular attention to developments in his native country and throughout the Soviet empire.

    John Paul was strident in his denunciations of communism. His unbending spirit, coupled with the anti-Communism of then U.S. President Ronald Reagan, helped mobilize millions of people living behind the Iron Curtain.

    His trips to Poland nurtured the Solidarity trade union and kept its spirit alive as the communist authorities cracked down. He called communism a false ideology that broke the human spirit. His fierce opposition made him enemies in the Soviet leadership.

    When he was shot in May 1981 in St. Peter's Square, many argued that the Kremlin was behind the assassination attempt. Nothing was ever proved. In keeping with his nature, John Paul visited his assassin after the attack and forgave him.

    John Paul's primary concern was the soul. He denounced communism, consumerism, arms races, and denials of human rights for their deadening effect on humanity. He preached a conservatism — a moral absolutism — that left no room for the compromises of modernity.

    When scandal struck, in the form of priests abusing children, he condemned it without equivocation, saying it was rightly considered a crime by society and "an appalling sin in the eyes of God."

    Yet the firmness that many applauded and clung to was criticized as doctrinaire by others.

    John Paul was clear: "The church cannot be an association of free-thinkers." While he stared down the Communist Party in the Soviet bloc, he forbade priests from practicing "liberation theology" in Latin America, demanding that they stay out of politics.

    Many Catholics challenged his views on contraception, abortion, euthanasia, female priests, homosexuals and divorce, arguing that modern life demands new doctrines. The pope refused to bend. Thus, as the Roman Catholic Church found many new converts in the developing world, it came under increasing pressure in developed nations to adapt. His successor will inherit this tension, but he is unlikely to depart from John Paul's position.

    History will look kindly on John Paul. He helped change the world for the better. He provided an energy, a solidity and a foundation for an institution that was divided and moribund. He has earned his rest.

The Japan Times Weekly
April 9, 2005
(C) All rights reserved

      法王は行動的指導者として、非宗教的権威に反対する姿勢を取る一方で、教会内では厳格な統制を維持していた。

      ポーランド出身のヨハネ・パウロ2世は1978年、455年ぶりのイタリア以外の出身者として法王に就任。以来、ヴァチカンのサンピエトロ広場で信者と交流し、精力的に海外訪問を行ったばかりでなく、ユダヤ人との和解を進めた。

      1993年にヴァチカン市国はイスラエルを承認、法王は01年シリア訪問中に、歴代法王として初めてイスラム教礼拝堂を訪れた。ギリシャ正教信者に対する不当行為について謝罪し、聖地エルサレムでは、3大宗教の融和を説いた。

      法王はフィリピン、メキシコなどのキリスト教国家から日本にいたるまで120ヵ国以上を訪問し、母国ポーランド、元ソビエト連邦諸国などの状況を常に気にかけていた。

      共産主義を強く批判していた法王は、故レーガン米大統領とともに、共産圏国家の自由化に貢献している。

      ソ連関与説がささやかれた1981年の暗殺未遂事件は、結局真相が解明されなかったが、法王は犯人に面会し罪を許している。

      法王は共産主義、消費主義、軍拡、人権侵害を非難し、保守主義、道徳的絶対主義を説き続けた。

      カトリック教会の聖職者による児童の性的虐待が発覚したときには、虐待を社会的犯罪として非難し、神の眼から見ても恐ろしい罪として糾弾した。

      避妊、妊娠中絶、安楽死、女性聖職者、同性愛、離婚などについての否定的見解は信者に批判されたが、法王が自説を曲げることはなかった。

      ローマ・カトリック教会は途上国で信者を増やす一方で、先進国では現代文明への適応を強く求められている。しかし後継者がヨハネ・パウロ2世の方針を変えることはないだろう。

      法王にはより良い世界を作る力があった。分裂した教会に活力、連帯、強固な基礎を与えた。法王の安らかな眠りを願う。