Saturday, April 02, 2005
More On The Pope
I have fairly vivid memories of watching the selection process for Pope previously. I believe the one I saw parts of on TV, watching with my grandfather, who was quite interested in the whole affair, was the selection of John Paul I.
Then either God or the ubiquitous, mysterious, usually nefarious “they” decided that was the wrong choice in short order, paving the way for John Paul II, an intriguing selection from the start, at least from a geopolitical standpoint. You gotta watch out for “they,” you know, as they’re always up to no good. My grandfather told me he stopped voting after “they” killed Kennedy. Under protective cover of the Warren Commission, of course.
Anyway, I am not Catholic. In fact, I have been known to make fun of Catholics. My stepfamily is Catholic, though, including a stepcousin who seems to have found peace in becoming a priest. I am not even particularly religious, for all I have respect for folks who are, in any reasonable way, and defend their right to believe as they will and practice freely, in any reasonable way. Take “reasonable” to mean the standard libertarian “don’t initiate force against others” clause. Hey, sounds a lot like the golden rule.
Nor do I believe that the fact that a particular, generally secular nation or society is heavily imbued with or influenced by a particular religious influence, as we are by Judeo-Christian tradition, in any way means folks not of that religion are being “oppressed.” Give me a break. Any more than I believe people of any particular religion have any place trying to remake the government in their non-secular image.
At any rate, disagree on many things or not, I have always admired Pope John Paul II. If only I had half the energy he did in his heyday. I grant you the problems with child molesting priests have been handled poorly, and could have used attention from on high that appeared to be absent. But, when he took on the role of Pope…
Communism.
I grew up with the omnipresent fear of nuclear fire, or worse, imposition of tyranny from without. Today there is at least as much reason to fear imposition of tyranny, or greater tyranny, if you will, from within, than there ever was to fear it or destruction from without. Not that we couldn’t yet be nuked; the probability in general and in scope did decrease.
There was no Reagan. No Thatcher. No John Paul II. We were weak and dead ending because we thought weak, voted weak, waxed in doubt.
Into that clouded future came a giant of a man; charismatic, overflowing with belief, religious and otherwise, bold and certain, from within the evil empire’s dominion no less. If everything else about his reign was wrong, if he spread no other hope, did no other good, shone no other inspiration, his role in challenging communism and shredding the iron curtain marked him with greatness. This is true even if you take the Bible to be collected traditional stories and wisdom written down by men, changed or reinvented in retelling and translation, and nothing more. This is true even if you believe God to be a supreme act of self-delusion rather than a supreme being.
And so a giant strode among us, then was gone. Whether merely from our plane or for all time, a giant in his day, to be missed, admired, and well remembered.
