20-PAGE SPECIAL ISSUE CCATHOLICATHOLIC Serving the People of the new york Archdiocese of New York newApril 2005 Volume XXIV, No. 7 york $1.00

Pope John Paul II Shepherd for the Church And the World 1920-2005 John Paul II Was Voice of Conscience for World, Modern-Day Apostle

By JOHN THAVIS cheered by millions. Pope John Paul’s personality was powerful and complicated. In his prime, he could work a crowd ope John Paul II, who died April 2 at age 84, was and banter with young and old, but spontaneity was Pa voice of conscience for the world and a not his specialty. As a manager, he set directions but modern-day apostle for his Church. often left policy details to top aides. To both roles he brought a philosopher’s intellect, a His reaction to the mushrooming clerical sex abuse pilgrim’s spiritual intensity and an actor’s flair for the scandal in the United States in 2001-02 underscored dramatic. That combination made him one of the his governing style: He suffered deeply, prayed at most forceful moral leaders of the modern age. length and made brief but forceful statements empha- As head of the Church for more than 26 years, he sizing the gravity of such a sin by priests. He con- held a hard line on doctrinal issues and drew sharp vened a Vatican-U.S. summit to address the problem, limits on dissent—in particular regarding abortion, but let his Vatican advisers and U.S. Church leaders birth control and other contested Church teachings work out the answers. In the end, he approved on human life. changes that made it easier to defrock abusive priests. Especially in later years, his pontificate reflected The pope was essentially a private person, with a personal trial and suffering. An athletic and energetic deep spiritual life—something not easily translated 58-year-old when elected, he gradually lost his ability by the media. Yet in earlier years, this pope seemed to walk, to stand and to express himself clearly —the made for modern media, and his pontificate was cap- result of Parkinson’s disease. By the time he cele- tured in some lasting images. Who can forget the brated his silver jubilee as pope in October 2003, pope wagging his finger sternly at a Sandinista priest aides were routinely wheeling him on a chair and in Nicaragua, hugging a young AIDS victim in Cali- reading his speeches for him. CNS photo by Chris Niedenthal fornia or huddling in a prison-cell conversation with Yet he rejected suggestions of retirement and HAPPY PILGRIM—Pope John Paul II savors the his would-be assassin, Mehmet Ali Agca? pushed himself to the limits of his declining physical experience of his first trip to as pope in June capabilities, convinced that such suffering was a form 1979. He would go on to travel to his homeland EARLY YEARS of spiritual leadership. nine times as pontiff. Pope John Paul’s early life was marked by personal The first non-Italian pope in 455 years, Pope John hardship and by Poland’s suffering during World Paul became a spiritual protagonist in two global tran- of Mother Teresa. Whether at home or on the road, War II. sitions: the fall of European communism, which he aimed to be the Church’s most active evangelizer, Karol Jozef Wojtyla was born May 18, 1920, in Wad- began in his native Poland in 1989, and the passage to trying to open every corner of human society to owice, a small town near Krakow, in southern the third millennium of Christianity. Christian values. Poland. His mother died when he was 9, and three The start of the new millennium brought a surge in Within the Church, the pope was just as vigorous years later he lost his only brother to scarlet fever. global terrorism, which the pope saw as a threat to and no less controversial. He disciplined dissenting When he was 20, his father died, and friends said interfaith harmony. He invited world religions to theologians, excommunicated self-styled “traditional- Wojtyla knelt for 12 hours in prayer and sorrow at his renounce violence and the logic of “religious war- ists” and upheld unpopular Church positions like the bedside. fare.” He condemned the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist pronouncement against birth control. At the same Remembered in high school as a bright, athletic attacks as “inhuman” but urged the United States to time, he pushed Catholic social teaching into rela- youth with a contemplative side, Wojtyla excelled in react with restraint, and he sharply criticized the U.S.- tively new areas such as bioethics, international eco- religion, philosophy and languages. In 1938, he began led war against Iraq in 2003. nomics, racism and ecology. working toward a philosophy degree at the Univer- As pastor of the universal Church, he jetted around He looked frail but determined as he led the Church sity of Krakow, joining speech and drama clubs and the world, taking his message to 129 countries in 104 through a heavy program of soul-searching events writing his own poetry. trips outside , including seven to the United during the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, fulfilling a The Nazi blitzkrieg of Poland Sept. 1, 1939, left the States. A linguist by training, he surprised and pleased dream of his pontificate. His long-awaited pilgrimage country in ruins and opened a new chapter in millions by communicating with them in their own to the Holy Land that year took him to the roots of the Wojtyla’s life. During the German occupation he languages—which made it all the more poignant faith and dramatically illustrated the Church’s helped set up an underground university and the when his speaking abilities declined in later years. improved relations with Jews. He also presided over clandestine “Rhapsodic Theater.” At the same time At times, he used the world as a pulpit: in Africa, to an unprecedented public apology for the sins of he found work in a stone quarry and a chemical decry hunger; in Hiroshima, Japan, to denounce the Christians during darker chapters of Church history, factory—experiences he later analyzed in poems and arms race; in Calcutta, India, to praise the generosity such as the Inquisition and the Crusades. papal writings. Walking home one day after working a double shift at the Solvay chemical plant, he was n a landmark document in 2001, the pope laid out struck by a truck and hospitalized for 12 days—the About This Issue Ihis vision of the Church’s future. The apostolic first in a lifelong series of physical hardships. letter, “” (”At the Beginning Wojtyla continued work after he entered Krakow’s This week, all CNY subscribers are receiving this of the New Millennium”), called for a “new sense of clandestine theological seminary in 1942. He had special 20-page issue on the life of Pope John Paul II, mission” to take values into every area of tried to join the Carmelite order but reportedly was who died April 2. Our April edition will contain social and economic life. turned away with the comment: ‘‘You are destined APRIL 2005 reactions of New Yorkers to the pope’s death and Over the years, public reaction to the pope’s mes- for greater things.’’ He was ordained four years later, look ahead to the . It will be distrib- sage and his decisions was mixed. He was hailed as a (WP) uted according to our normal delivery schedule. daring social critic, chided as the “last socialist,” and (Continued on next page)

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CATHOLIC NEW YORK Catholic New York (ISSN 0278-1174) is published monthly for $12.00 per year by Ecclesiastical E-mail: [email protected] Please clip old label and mail with new Communications Corp., 1011 First Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022. Periodical postage paid at New address to Circulation Dept., 1011 First Ave., York, N.Y. and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: send address changes to Catholic New Ste. 1721, New York, N.Y. 10022. York, 1011 First Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022. ON THE WEB www.cny.org P2 Delivery problems: (212) 688-2399, ext. 140. (4/05) just as the new communist regime was taking aim at a second trial. The pope publicly forgave his assailant, Father Charles Curran, for one, was stripped of his the Polish Church. He soon left for two years of study and in 1983 he visited Agca in a prison cell for a permission to teach at The Catholic University of at Rome’s Angelicum University, where he earned a quiet meeting of reconciliation. In 2000, with the America in 1986 because of his views on sexual doctorate in ethics, writing his thesis on the 16th- pope’s support, Italy pardoned Agca and returned morality and divorce. century mystic, St. John of the Cross. him to Turkey, where he remains in prison. To counter doctrinal confusion, the pope was con- When he returned to Poland in 1948, Father Woj- Pope John Paul credited Mary for having protected tinually drawing—or highlighting—the line on diffi- tyla spent a year in a rural parish, then was assigned him, and on the first anniversary of the shooting he cult moral questions. In a lengthy series of audience to a Krakow church, where he devoted most of his made a thanksgiving pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our talks in 1984 he bolstered Church arguments against time to young people—teaching religion, playing soc- Lady of Fatima in Portugal. Later in his pontificate, artificial birth control. cer and leading philosophical discussions. He earned the pope published the “third secret” of Fatima, which In the 1990s he urged the world’s to step up another doctorate in moral theology and began lec- instead of predicting the end of the world, as many their fight against abortion and euthanasia, saying the turing at Lublin University in 1953. He wrote numer- had believed, described a period of suffering for the practices amounted to a modern-day “slaughter of the ous articles and several books on ethics. Church and the shooting of a in white—a fig- innocents.” His sharpened critique of these and other His appointment as auxiliary of Krakow—Poland’s ure the pope believed was linked to the attempt on “anti-family” policies helped make him Time youngest bishop—in 1958 caught him canoeing with his life. magazine’s choice for Man of the Year in 1994. friends. He traveled to to formally hear the Soon after the shooting, the pope dispelled worries In 1986, a Vatican document reiterated moral oppo- news, but was back on the water the same day. that it would slow him down for long. He went on the sition to homosexual acts and said homosexuality road about four times a year, eventually logging more was an “objective disorder.” It drew strong criticism, KRAKOW AND ROME than 700,000 miles. especially in the United States. In 1987, a wide- The future pope rose quickly through ranging Vatican document on bioethics the ranks in Krakow, becoming arch- said in vitro fertilization, surrogate bishop in 1964. During the Second Vati- motherhood and embryo manipulation can Council, he helped draft documents were morally wrong. on religious liberty and the Church in In one of the most ambitious projects the modern world, and in 1967 Pope of his pontificate, he presided over pub- Paul VI named him a cardinal—the lication of a new universal catechism in second-youngest in the Church. He 1992, aimed at restoring clarity in traveled widely, and took a leading role Church teaching. It became a best seller in the world Synod of Bishops. in many countries, including the United But despite his rapid ecclesiastical States. ascent, Cardinal Wojtyla remained a In his landmark the next virtual unknown to many in the year, ‘‘’’ (‘‘The Splen- Church—until the evening of Oct. 16, dor of Truth’’), the pope delivered a 1978, when his as pope was wake-up call that went beyond Church announced to some 200,000 people membership. In exploring the funda- gathered in St. Peter’s Square and to the mentals of moral theology, the pope world at large. said the Church’s teachings were Pope John Paul set his papal style on urgently needed in a society that he that first night. Instead of merely bless- described as absorbed in self- ing the crowd, he gave a heartfelt talk gratification and drifting away from uni- from the central of St. Peter’s. versal moral norms. Soon afterward, he He described himself as a pope ‘‘from a began a public crusade against parts of a faraway nation’’—but won over the U.N. draft document on population and mostly Italian throng in the square by Maria R. Bastone development, saying it promoted abor- speaking their language. He left them OUTDOOR —Pope John Paul raises the Eucharist during liturgy which drew tion, contraception and a mistaken view cheering loudly. some 130,000 to Central Park during the pontiff’s 1995 visit to New York. of sexuality and the family. This use of the papal pulpit deeply affected interna- A FAST PACE In Catholic countries, the trips were his way of tional debate on the issues. The pope’s reign began like a cyclone. He set off for strengthening ties between the local Church and His 1995 encyclical, ‘‘,’’ (‘‘The Gos- Mexico and the Dominican Republic three months Rome. His 14 visits to Africa were part of a successful pel of Life’’) not only condemned the growing accep- after his election and waded into a crucial debate strategy of Church expansion in the Third World—in tance of abortion and euthanasia, but also carried a about the Church’s social and political role in numbers of Catholics and indigenous , the Afri- strongly worded argument against capital punish- America. On the way, he held the first of many papal can Church doubled during Pope John Paul’s term— ment. In 1998 the encyclical ‘‘’’ (‘‘Faith APRIL 2005 CATHOLIC NEW YORK press conferences—aboard his chartered jumbo jet. and in 1994 the pope called an African synod to cele- and Reason’’) warned of a growing separation That same year, 1979, he met with the Soviet for- brate the progress and map out new pastoral between theology and philosophy, with dire conse- eign minister; published an encyclical on redemption; strategies. In predominantly non-Christian places like quences for society and the Church. strongly reaffirmed celibacy for priests; visited his Asia and North Africa, he evangelized gently, stress- Polish homeland; named 14 new cardinals; made a ing the common values shared by Christianity and VATICAN II major ecumenical visit to the Orthodox in Turkey; other faiths, yet insisting that Jesus Christ alone can If some inside the Church saw the pope as a hard- and had a Swiss-born theologian, Father Hans Kung, be seen as savior. liner, he saw himself as a reconciler between the lib- disciplined for questioning papal authority. The pope’s U.S. trips provided some historic and eral and conservative wings of the Church. Part of his It was the start of a remarkably personal papacy. emotional moments. In 1979 he became the first pope job, he said in 1989, was to introduce ‘‘an element of The pope regularly drew crowds of more than a mil- to be received at the White House. His trips to Den- balance’’ in the implementation of Vatican II reforms. lion people, and his popularity was satirically com- ver in 1993 and Toronto in 2002 for He convened a 1985 Synod of Bishops, which strongly (WP) pared to that of a rock star. sparked massive pilgrimages of young people in endorsed the council’s decisions but also said some But on May 13, 1981, an assailant’s bullets put his North America. In 1995, addressing the U.N. General ‘‘abuses’’ should be corrected. pontificate on hold. The pope, who was circling St. Assembly, he urged the organization to give new The pope zeroed in on liturgy in a 1989 apostolic Peter’s Square in an open jeep during a weekly audi- moral meaning to the phrase “family of nations.” letter, saying the period of major liturgical changes ence, suffered serious intestinal wounds. He was was over. He urged bishops to root out ‘‘outlandish rushed to surgery at a Rome hospital; his recovery CHURCH TENSIONS innovations’’ such as profane readings in place of took several months, with a second hospitalization The issue of dissent brought out the determined Scriptural texts, invented rites and inappropriate for a blood infection. side of Pope John Paul—especially when it involved songs. He said the roles of priests and lay people must Agca, a Turk who had threatened the pope in 1979, theologians. not be confused—even with the dramatic shortage of was arrested in St. Peter’s Square and sentenced to During the 1980s the Vatican’s doctrinal congrega- priests in some areas. life in prison for the shooting. He later claimed that tion, headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, cracked Self-styled traditionalists like the late French Bulgarian agents had helped plan and carry out the down on several theologians whose teachings were P3 attack, but his alleged accomplices were acquitted in deemed incompatible with Church positions. U.S. (Continued on Page P4) He was also a tireless defender of human rights and, encyclical, ‘‘’’ (‘‘That All May Be first among them, religious rights. During a trip to One’’), the pope asked theologians and leaders of Voice of Conscience... Cuba in 1998, he appealed for a wider Church role in other churches to help him find a way of exercising society, and he stood up publicly for Catholics in that could make it a ministry of unity (Continued from Page P3) places like China, Vietnam and Sudan. to all Christians. On the pope’s initiative, in 2004 the Vatican pub- In 1999, Catholics and Lutherans approved an Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre thought the pope was lished a 523-page compendium of Catholic social agreement on the doctrine of justification, resolving too liberal. When Archbishop Lefebvre ordained teachings. the main doctrinal dispute that led to the Protestant bishops against papal orders in 1988, thus provoking Reformation. But the Vatican insisted that it was still a schism, the pope excommunicated him. At the RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, ECUMENICAL TRIALS too early for shared Eucharist. same time, he brought some of the archbishop’s The pope kept up the Vatican’s ‘‘Ostpolitik’’ of nego- followers back to the fold with special concessions, tiating with communist countries, winning gradual HIS MARK ON THE CHURCH including use of the preconciliar Tridentine-rite concessions on Church freedom. But the pope was not Pope John Paul changed the face of the Catholic Mass. always so diplomatic, especially during trips to his hierarchy, naming most of the active bishops in the The pope insisted on priestly and religious identi- homeland, where he hammered the human rights world and more than 97 percent of voting-age ty, in things big and small. Early in his term, he theme and embarrassed the regime. Many in Poland cardinals. made clear that religious and clergy should wear said the papal visit in 1979 was the spiritual spark that The pope gave the a more their habits and collars while in Rome. ‘‘Catholic lit the fire of reform: The Polish labor movement Soli- active role in Church , asking their col- identity’’ became a rallying cry. In 1990, the pope darity was formed in 1980, was forced underground lective advice on major administrative issues and on issued norms to guarantee orthodoxy and a Catho- and later emerged to lead the first noncommunist gov- pastoral topics like abortion, and convening them in lic perspective in Church-run universities. ernment in 1989. The rest of Eastern Europe soon fol- 2001 for a far-reaching look at the Church’s future. In Rome and on the road, the pope constantly lowed suit. He internationalized the , replacing encouraged lay Catholics to live the faith in their In his 2005 autobiographical book, ‘‘Memory and many as department heads but keeping everyday lives. He favored zealous lay movements Identity: Conversations Between Millenniums,’’ the them in most middle-management positions. He such as Opus Dei and in 2002 canonized its pope described the ideological struggles of the 20th approved new codes of canon law for the Eastern founder, Msgr. Josemaria Escriva, in the face of century as a battle between good and evil fought on a and Western churches. some criticism. The pope also found new models of global stage, offering valuable lessons for the new mil- While Pope John Paul conducted a highly personal Catholic virtue in nearly every part of the globe, lennium. He said he was worried, however, that the papacy, his own personality was not a simple one to declaring more saints than all his predecessors hopes kindled by the collapse of communism—for a understand. Those closest to him said the key was a combined. Europe that could “rediscover its soul” and reunite deep spiritual life, from which he drew his energy. Pope John Paul’s pronouncements on women around “human and Christian values”—were being He prayed everywhere he went—morning, noon were deeply affected by his devotion to Mary. His frustrated by anti-religious trends across the continent. and night—and recommended prayer as the first apostolic letter on women in 1988, using Mary as an Ecumenical tensions also clouded the horizon in and basic Christian response to problems. example, affirmed their equal social and cultural post-communist Europe. Disputes over property and In the later years of his pontificate, the pope gave dignity with men, but restated the ban on women evangelizing methods arose among local Catholic and two book-length interviews and published two vol- priests. He asked for economic equality between Orthodox churches in the former Soviet bloc. The umes of autobiographical reflections that offered a men and women, but also for programs that would pope’s decision to create four new in Russia glimpse into the personal decisions he made along allow women to stay at home and care for children in 2002 brought Catholic-Orthodox dialogue to a his spiritual path. He recalled how his priestly voca- rather than seek jobs. standstill and ended realistic hopes of traveling to tion cut him off from friends but opened up a whole Moscow for a meeting with Russian Orthodox Patri- new source of inner strength. PLEAS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE arch Alexy II. Still, the pope pressed on with a series of In 2002, in a typical blend of the traditional and Those who pegged Pope John Paul as a conserva- historic visits to predominantly Orthodox countries. the innovative, he added five new “Mysteries of tive often were surprised at his repeated appeals for Pope John Paul’s ecumenical and interreligious leg- Light” to the Rosary and proclaimed a year dedi- social and economic justice and his warnings about acy was built largely on his personal gestures. In 1979 cated to its recital. He also gave universal Church globalization. His social teaching was distilled in he traveled to Turkey to meet Ecumenical Orthodox recognition to the Divine Mercy prayer movement three major : Patriarch Dimitrios I and jointly announce the estab- and canonized the Polish nun who founded it. In his ■ ‘‘’’ (‘‘On Human Work’’) in lishment of an international dialogue commission. He continuing effort to revitalize the roots of the faith, 1981 criticized the abuses of a “rigid capitalism” that became the first pontiff to visit a Lutheran church, in he declared a Year of the Eucharist from October values profit over the well-being of workers, but 1983, on the 500th anniversary of the birth of Martin 2004 to October 2005. said Marxism’s class struggle was not the answer. Luther. Later he hosted 150 world religious leaders in The pope accepted suffering as an opportunity for ■ ‘‘’’ (‘‘On Social Con- Assisi, Italy, at a ‘‘prayer summit’’ for peace. Visiting a spiritual growth and wrote a deeply philosophical cerns’’) in 1987 warned of a widening gap between mosque in Damascus, Syria, in 2001, he became the letter on the subject in 1984. Wherever he went, he rich and poor countries and condemned the trans- first pontiff to enter a Muslim place of worship. made sure the front row was reserved for the sick fer of the East-West conflict to the Third World. While continually promoting areas of interreligious and disabled in his audience. ■ ‘‘’’ (‘‘The 100th Year’’) in cooperation, including pro-life issues, the pope insisted Unlike his predecessors, he aged in public and 1991 called for reform of the free-market system in that dialogue cannot interfere with the Church’s duty made no attempt to hide his infirmities, taking on the wake of communism’s collapse, denouncing to evangelize. That was a main point of the controver- what his aides called a ministry of suffering. Writing massive poverty in the Third World and consumer- sial Vatican document, ‘‘Dominus Iesus,’’ which said to the world’s elderly in 1999, the pope spoke mov- ism in the West. the Church must announce to all people “the necessity ingly about the limitations he experienced in old The pope underlined these texts on his trips, tak- of conversion to Jesus Christ.” Issued during the Holy age, but said: “At the same time, I find great peace in APRIL 2005 ing a detour into a local shantytown in Latin Amer- Year 2000, it said non-Christians can be saved, but thinking of the time when the Lord will call me: ica or chiding the world for neglecting Africa’s warned against attributing a divine origin or saving from life to life!”

(WP) drought-stricken Sahel region. He founded papal quality to other religions. Young people always seemed to heighten the development foundations to show that the Vatican The pope’s unprecedented visit in 1986 to a Rome pope’s energy and good humor, even as his health practiced what it preached. synagogue—when he called Jews Catholics’ “elder and stamina failed in later years. In Bern, Switzer- While insisting that priests steer clear of partisan brothers” in faith—marked a breakthrough in Catholic- land, in 2004, he delighted some 13,000 cheering political activities, the pope did not expect Church Jewish relations. In 1994, he approved Vatican diplo- youths when he struggled successfully to pronounce leaders to be mute on social questions. In 1980, for matic relations with the state of Israel. During his Holy his speech—after chasing away an aide who wanted example, he endorsed the Brazilian bishops’ call for Land pilgrimage in 2000, his historic prayer at the to read it for him. radical social reforms, saying that if changes were Western Wall, Judaism’s most sacred spot, touched Beyond the mark he leaves on the institutional not made, the door to violent revolution would be Jews all over the world. Church, Pope John Paul will no doubt be remem- opened. At the pope’s request, in 1998 the Vatican issued an bered by many as a very human pontiff: one who Pope John Paul was a constant critic of war and unprecedented document on the Holocaust, express- hiked in the mountains in his early years and who

CATHOLIC NEW YORK an advocate of disarmament. His aides successfully ing repentance for centuries of anti-Jewish discrimina- had to be wheeled to the altar in later years, who headed off a shooting war between Chile and tion but defending the wartime Pope Pius XII; it drew traveled the globe to meet the people and tend his in 1978, the one example of direct papal mixed reaction from Jews. flock, and who lived each chapter of his papacy

P4 mediation. Other dialogues proceeded slowly. In his 1995 before the eyes of the world. —CNS In the Holiness of Truth Pope John Paul II Edward Cardinal Egan

ver the past 27 years I have had the great bless- well, the most celebrated being the synagogue on the him for any of these commitments and stands, he has Oing of coming to know our Holy Father, Pope bank of the Tiber River, whose rabbi and members wel- always responded as the Lord would have him and John Paul II, quite well. I was privileged to assist at the comed him as the trusted friend he was. all of us respond—with charity but never ceding an conclave of cardinals in which he was elected and All the while, he managed to travel across the world inch when basic values of humanity and the Gospel met him shortly after his solemn inauguration when over and over again. We are told that he has flown more were at stake. he came to visit the Tribunal of the Sacred Roman miles than any other ecclesiastical or political figure in The final years of Pope John Paul II have been in the Vatican of which I was at the time one of history and that he has spoken to more persons in more extraordinarily difficult as he struggled with the 14 judges. During the visit he was told by the Dean nations than any other human being in history. If ever Parkinson’s disease and the bullet wounds that of the Rota that I was from Chicago; and he immedi- there were an evangelizer of the world, it was he, John resulted from the attempted assassination in May of ately engaged me in a most cordial conversation, tell- Paul, the ‘‘Missionary Pontiff.’’ 1981 by the young man who acted in hate and was ing me of the friends he had among the Polish clergy None of this, however, impeded his doing the work forgiven in love. Still, these final years have been an in the ‘‘Windy City.’’ I was amazed at his memory of names, his excellent English, and—above all—the ease with which he spoke with me and my colleagues. As the years passed and I came to work with our new, young, athletic and marvelously holy Pontiff, my amazement grew. The reason was clear. Here was a man who man- aged to do his seminary studies during the horren- dous years in which the Nazis occupied his native land, well-aware that, if caught, he would be severely punished. Here was a man who as a bishop stood up to the next invaders and occupiers of Poland, the Soviets, with incredible courage and incredible suc- cess as well.

ever will I forget visiting the town of Nowa Huta Noutside of Krakow when I was in Poland in the early 1970's. The town had been built to create housing for workers in a new steel plant named for the leader of the Italian Communist Party, Palmiro Togliatti. It was ugly beyond description. The apartment blocks were grey stucco and plainly built with the cheapest of materi- als. Muddy sewerage water sluiced through gutters on either side of the crumbling cement streets. And the populace gave the impression of being underfed, over- worked and deeply angry about their virtual servitude. There was, however, one reality in Nowa Huta that lent the place a bit of humanity and hope. It was a huge, half-constructed church that the people were building by APRIL 2005 CATHOLIC NEW YORK themselves out of stones carried from a nearby river-bed despite the protests of the Communist soldiers, some of Fotografia Felici whom actually shot to death certain of the builders in a PROUD MOMENT—Cardinal Egan greets Pope John Paul II during the consistory at the Vatican in 2001 in failed attempt to halt the construction. which he was elevated to cardinal. Nor was there any doubt in anyone’s mind why the attempt failed. Nowa Huta was located within the bor- expected of a pope in the administration and direction of important period for his papacy and, in my judg- ders of the Archdiocese of Krakow; and the archbishop, the Church Universal. His accomplishments in this area ment, for the world as well. For they are years of a young clergyman by the name of Karol Wojtyla, cham- are monumental. They include a new Catechism for the powerful witness to the never-to-be-doubted value pioned the construction of the church openly, indeed, that has been published in millions of of every human being, even those declining physical- defiantly. At the end of my tour of the basement of the copies and countless languages, a new Code of Canon ly, losing their power of speech, or struggling to church and the section of the first-floor that was com- Law that has had beneficial repercussions on every insti- breathe. One dares to hope that the witness has been (WP) pleted, a Polish Franciscan priest asked me to kneel with tution in the Church, numerous ‘‘encyclical letters’’ on understood, at least in some measure, especially him next to a steel memorial in honor of those who had key issues of philosophy and theology, and a thorough among those for whom human life is not always a lost their lives in building the church of Nowa Huta. He reform of the various offices and tribunals of the Roman precious treasure to be protected in every prayed aloud in English, and his prayer ended with his Curia. circumstance. thanking the Lord for ‘‘the gift of our strong and coura- I have been a priest for 47 years. For 27 of them I geous archbishop.’’ It was clearly a prayer from the heart. n all of this it was always clear where he stood on have been reciting at every Mass an invocation for As the Bishop of Rome, John Paul II was again a Iissues of importance. He has tirelessly defended mar- ‘‘John Paul, our Pope.’’ Now that the Lord has taken source of amazement and admiration for all of us who riage and family life. He has done all in his power to this great and holy Pontiff to Himself, another name were living at the time in his new and ancient . convince the world of the dignity of human life at every will soon be on my lips. His, however, will always There in what we loved to call ‘‘The Eternal City,’’ he moment from conception to natural death. He has have a secure place in my prayers and in my heart. visited parishes, hospitals, homes for the elderly, prisons, begged the political leaders of the world to work coura- convents, monasteries, schools and houses of worship of geously and confidently for peace. He has been a dedi- Edward Cardinal Egan P5 various Christian communities and of other faiths as cated champion of the poor. And to all who criticized Archbishop of New York Pope John Paul II † A Shepherd for the Church and the World † 1920 - 2005 ‘Be Not Afraid’ Pope John Paul inspired New Yorkers on two triumphant visits

By MARY ANN POUST

he first time Pope John Paul II visited New York, T his message to its people—who cheered for him and prayed with him at Yankee and Shea stadiums, at Madison Square Garden and at a ticker-tape parade down Broadway—was that ‘‘a city needs a soul if it is to become a true home for human beings.’’ ‘‘You, the people,’’ he declared, at Shea, ‘‘must give it ROOM FOR ALL— this soul.’’ Throngs filled Central At a Mass at Yankee Stadium the night before, he Park for Pope John spoke of America’s great wealth and made an impas- Paul’s Mass in 1995, sioned call for the nation to share its blessings. ‘‘Do and no one seemed to not,’’ he said, ‘‘leave the Lazarus of the 20th century mind the press of peo- standing at the door.’’ ple. Part of the pope’s The next time he came to New York, he challenged tremendous appeal young people from a stage in Central Park to ‘‘stand was his ability to talk up for life’’ and promote Christ’s teachings in a way- to a vast crowd as ward world, and he used the platform of the United though he were speak- Nations to urge the peoples of the world to join in ing to each person building ‘‘a civilization of love.’’ individually. He allowed New Yorkers to show off their city at its world-class best, marveling at its beauty and majesty, then asked, ‘‘In the great metropolis of New York, is Maria R. Bastone there room for the mystery of God?’’ And at every stop, it seemed, he repeated the call he the street and on the sidewalk, they fingered their their shouts of ‘‘Polish power!’’ with spontaneous made in his first homily as pope: ‘‘Be not afraid.’’ beads and sang along with the hymns, hoping for a ‘‘Woo-woos’’—the Polish equivalent of ‘‘Wow!’’ The first of John Paul’s two visits to New York as glimpse of him entering or leaving. In the traditional ticker-tape parade the pope stood pope was in October of 1979, one year after he They were rewarded beyond their wildest dreams. in an open-roof limousine—while Cardinal Cooke held ascended to the papacy—thrilling millions of people The Rosary service over, he descended the cathedral an umbrella over him to protect against the rain— at sites that ranged from the history-laden tip of lower steps, passed by a waiting limousine and, to the dismay waving to the throngs lined up along the route and to Manhattan, with the Statue of Liberty as backdrop, to of security officers, reached out to touch and bless the those in offices who added to the mix with showers of the streets of Harlem and the South Bronx. thousands of people behind barricades on Fifth shredded paper and computer printouts. New Yorkers waited for hours, sometimes in heavy Avenue. In Battery Park, he gave a stirring speech in gusting downpours, for a glimpse of this vigorous and engag- ‘‘He’s walking, he’s walking,’’ cried many in the wind, calling the Statue of Liberty a symbol of ing spiritual leader who, clearly, was propelling the crowd as they saw him move toward them. America’s promise and adding a personal greeting to office of pope into the modern world. Continuing to wave, the pope strolled along Fifth the Jewish leaders in the audience whose presence, he He returned for the second visit 16 years later, in Avenue, talking with Cardinal O’Connor, who was said, ‘‘honors me greatly.’’ October of 1995. pointing to identify nearby buildings, and went down ‘‘Shalom!’’ he said to them. ‘‘Peace be with you!’’ By this time, New Yorkers and the rest of the world 50th Street to the cardinal’s residence at the back of the He visited New York’s neighborhoods, too, on that had come to know him as a strong voice for tradi- cathedral. first trip. There was a stop in the South Bronx, where tional Catholic teachings and morality, a defender of It was a personal touch on a visit filled with personal he blessed the site of Christopher Court, a planned the poor around the globe and an unyielding cham- touches. Some others were these: Leaving St. Joseph’s Church-sponsored housing project for the poor. pion of human rights whose influence helped bring on Seminary in Dunwoodie after praying with seminari- To the crowds that greeted him with tambourines the fall of communism in his native Poland and ans, he stopped on the grounds to speak with para- and cheers of ‘‘Viva el Papa!’’ he said in Spanish, ‘‘I throughout Eastern Europe. lyzed Det. Steven McDonald and gave him a blessing. come here because I know the difficult conditions of In his speech to the United Nations the day after his In his homily at the Mass for young people in Central your existence, because I know the sorrow that takes arrival, he pleaded for a ‘‘true culture of freedom’’ in Park, he burst into spontaneous song with a Christmas place in your lives. For this reason, you deserve partic- the world as the millennium approached. In so doing, carol that he sang as a boy in Poland. ular attention on the part of the pope.’’

APRIL 2005 he said, ‘‘we shall see that the tears of this century With those gestures, and especially by wading into At a stop in Harlem, he met black Catholics at St. have prepared the ground for a new springtime of the the crowd outside the cathedral, the pope also under- Church and hummed along with a

(WP) human spirit.’’ lined one of his main messages of the trip—that people Gospel song. Yet, his speeches and themes were aimed not only should not fear the future or one another. He also made his first appearance as pope before the at world leaders like those gathered in the U.N.’s Gen- United Nations, where world leaders applauded him eral Assembly Hall. he bond that Pope John Paul had with New York- and where he made a strong appeal for human rights. They were meant, as well, for ordinary Catholics, Ters on the 1995 visit was forged 16 years earlier ‘‘Only the safeguarding of this real completeness of like the families from parishes in the archdiocese and when he spent 29 whirlwind hours in the city, electri- rights for every human being, without discrimination,’’ the religious sisters and brothers who prayed the fying the millions of people who braved crowds and he said, ‘‘can ensure peace at its very roots.’’ Rosary with him at St. Patrick’s Cathedral—where he stormy skies to welcome the charismatic shepherd At Shea Stadium, preparing to depart for Philadel- called the family ‘‘the typical lay vocation’’ and asked who seemed to enjoy seeing them as much as they phia, the next leg of his trip, he spoke in four religious to pray that ‘‘a new Pentecost will take hold enjoyed seeing him. languages—Polish, Italian, English and Spanish—in in consecrated life.’’ At a Madison Square Garden youth rally, 20,000 appealing to New Yorkers to give their city a soul.

CATHOLIC NEW YORK Those were words heard, too, by the crowds who teenagers gave him a roaring welcome when he ‘‘And how do you do this?’’ he asked. ‘‘By loving each stood outside the cathedral watching the activities on entered the arena to the theme from ‘‘Rocky’’ then other.’’ the large television screens while listening to the ser- cheerfully accepted their gift of jeans, a T-shirt and a Then he gave his final blessing and said, simply, vice via live broadcast on . Standing on guitar. He clapped along with the music and replied to ‘‘Good-bye.’’ P6 Maria R. Bastone

CNS photo from Reuters He Loved New York New Yorkers gave Pope John Paul II a big-hearted, big- city welcome when he visited in October 1995. In the col- umn at left, top to bottom, is the Mass he celebrated in Central Park for some 130,000 young people; his visit with seminarians at St. Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie; and his address at the United Nations. He’s conferring with Cardi- nal O’Connor during a Rosary recital at St. Patrick’s Cathe- dral, above, and gets a banner welcome from a group of New York’s Bravest and their families at a Mass at Aque- duct Racetrack in Queens.

L’Osservatore Romano/Arturo Mari AHLCNWYR APRIL 2005 CATHOLIC NEW YORK

(WP) P7 Maria R. Bastone Maria R. Bastone Robert H. Kuhnke Welcome to Big Apple Pope John Paul II made his first visit to New York as pope in October of 1979, one year after his election as pontiff. Throngs greeted him everywhere, including Yankee Stadium, where he’s seen at left arriving to celebrate an open-air Mass. His arrival at Shea Stadium, above, where he led a prayer service, was his last stop in the city. With him in the open car are New York’s Cardinal and Brooklyn’s Bishop Francis Mugavero.

Chris Sheridan Preparing the Pope’s Way in New York A Historic Papacy By MSGR. LESLIE J. IVERS Father Richard John Neuhaus, founder of the News of the death of the Holy Father brought not Institute on Religion and Public Life and editor only a deep sadness but a flood of happy memories, of its journal, First Things, reflected on the leg- especially those of one of the most profound experi- acy of Pope John Paul II in a brief conversation ences of my priesthood—the task entrusted to me by with CNY the day before the pope died. He Cardinal O’Connor of coordinating the Pope’s second cited two ways in which the pope left an indeli- visit to the Archdiocese of New York in 1995. I shall ble mark on the papacy. always remember the genuine joy and excitement First, he said, ‘‘I think it was one of the most experienced by hundreds of thousands of people who assertively teaching pontificates of the entire saw Pope John Paul at St. Joseph’s Seminary, St. history of the Church—the encyclicals, the pas- Patrick’s Cathedral and the memorable Mass in Cen- toral exhortations, the many, many magisterial tral Park. The Great Lawn was transformed into a vast documents that he authored. outdoor cathedral with the skyline of New York as the ‘‘Second,’’ he continued, ‘‘never in history has APRIL 2005 backdrop. Before Mass, Cardinal O’Connor introduced the papacy—either the office or the person— me to the Holy Father and told him of my role in been as public as this pope made it. And that’s

(WP) preparing for his visit. The Pope took my hand in his going to be a very interesting question for the and warmly expressed his gratitude. I will cherish that future: Whether the next pope, or all the ‘next encounter for the rest of my life. ’ to be, will have to follow the pattern John Paul II has been Pope for my entire priesthood. that he has set of being such an extraordinary I was a deacon when he celebrated Mass in Yankee public figure of persuasion.’’ The papacy, he Stadium in 1979, just one month before my ordination. added, has changed ‘‘not only in the way in I helped distribute Communion and was awestruck by Chris Sheridan which (it) is perceived, but the way it’s the privilege. I recently visited Rome and saw the Pope practiced.’’ HOLY GROUND—Msgr. Leslie Ivers, right, joins Auxiliary at his window for the Angelus on the second Sunday Father Neuhaus said he believes that Pope Bishop Patrick J. Sheridan at blessing ceremony in Central of Lent. As I listened to him struggle to speak, my John Paul’s 26-year tenure ‘‘surely will go down Park where was celebrated in 1995. mind drifted back to Yankee Stadium and Central in history as the pontificate of John Paul the

CATHOLIC NEW YORK Park. Age and illness had taken its toll but his presence life in a small way and for the much larger role he had Great.’’ was just as powerful. I remembered the handshake in mine. ‘‘This has been one of the great privileges of and the rosary he had given me which was in my Msgr. Ivers is pastor of St. Frances de Chantal par- our life,’’ he said, ‘‘to have shared planet Earth

P8 pocket. I was grateful that I was able to be a part of his ish in the Bronx. with such a giant.’’ Pope John Paul II † A Shepherd for the Church and the World † 1920 - 2005 ‘Strong Voice’ As dominant figure on world stage, pope used his moral leadership sent to government leaders around the globe, reflected Many observers, including former U.S. ambassadors By JOHN THAVIS the pope’s sense of resolve. to the Vatican, said Pope John Paul’s influence on world ‘‘To speak out on an issue like abortion confirms this events was tremendous. They praised his political sav- ope John Paul II spent more than 26 years as a pope’s leadership in a dramatic way. If a pope doesn’t vy, reflected less in the public realm than in behind- P dominant figure on the world stage, using his moral try to awaken ethical responsibility, what is his value?’’ the-scenes efforts by Vatican diplomats. The pope’s leadership to promote human rights, condemn ethical said Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls. tenure saw a near-doubling of the number of countries failings and plead for peace. The pope’s pro-life stand also virtually excluded the with which the Vatican holds diplomatic relations. He had the ear of presidents, prime ministers and death penalty, and he made frequent appeals against At the same time, his flair for the dramatic gesture kings, who came in a steady stream for private audi- executions in the United States. After one dramatic plea helped make him the most-televised pontiff in history. ences at the Vatican. Although the pope’s fading health during his visit to St. Louis in 1999, the sentence of a That was a form of global influence that this pope never in later years made these one-on-one meetings less sub- Missouri death-row inmate was commuted. underestimated. Millions watched him walk through stantive, his encounters with U.S. and Soviet leaders in During jubilee celebrations in 2000, the pope continu- crowds of African poor or visit a shantytown family in the 1980s and ’90s gave a spiritual impetus to the fall of ally prodded and pressured global financial powers to Latin America. As the pope once said, one reason he European communism. forgive at least part of the Third World debt—a request kept returning to these places was that he knew the More than any previous pontiff, he pushed religious that added a moral dimension to the issue and helped cameras would follow, spotlighting human problems teachings into the center of public debate, arguing that bring about debt relief for some of the poorest nations. around the globe. universal moral norms—such as the sanctity of life— The pope conferred with presidents, stood up to The pope was a consistent critic of war and a booster are not optional for contemporary society. tyrants and preached to crowds of more than a million of peace, and during his pontificate the Vatican issued The pope’s bold words and gestures won acclaim, but people. Almost immediately after his election in 1978, he major statements calling for disarmament. His aides not from all quarters. began using the world as a pulpit: decrying hunger from successfully headed off a shooting war between Chile When it came to war, the pope gave no comfort to Africa; denouncing the arms race from Hiroshima, and Argentina in 1978. those pressing for the use of military force. His outspo- Japan; and promoting human equality from caste- But sometimes the pope’s peace efforts went unheed- ken opposition to the U.S.-led war on Iraq in 2003 was conscious India. ed, to his bitter disappointment. That was true not only based on the conviction that both sides should have As Poland’s native son, he had a special interest and a in Iraq; his warnings about conflagration in the Balkans done more to settle the dispute peacefully. He mobi- key role in the demise of European communism. For and his horror at ethnic fighting in Africa illustrated the lized an unprecedented, though unsuccessful, diplo- years he criticized the moral bankruptcy of the system, limits of papal influence. matic effort to help prevent hostilities and to preserve to applause in the West. His visits to his homeland When Pope John Paul first addressed the United the role of the United Nations in global peacemaking. helped light the fire of reform, which eventually led to Nations in 1979, he emphasized that harmonious inter- Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks by the first noncommunist government in the Soviet bloc. national relations were deeply tied to a proper under- extremists acting in the name of Islam, the pope led a In an astute political move, he cultivated an ally in standing of freedom and respect for moral precepts. spiritual campaign against all violence in the name of Mikhail Gorbachev, whose glasnost policies set the That was a message he honed over the years, in face- religion. He convened a meeting of Muslims, Christians, stage for the breakup of the Soviet Union—and the to-face meetings with world leaders and in public Jews and others in Assisi in early 2002; the gathering return of religious freedom. speeches. produced a joint statement against terrorism. But the pope was also a sometimes-unwelcome critic Returning to the United Nations in 1995, frailer but Pro-life issues brought out a fighting spirit in the of capitalism, warning that the profit motive alone just as forceful, he again insisted that the ‘‘family of Polish-born pontiff. In 1994, for example, he challenged would never bring justice and cautioning about the nations’’ must be founded on strong moral principles U.N. population planners on abortion and birth-control effects of ‘‘globalization’’ in the post-communist era. and warned of ‘‘unspeakable offenses against human life policies and steered an international development con- Modern leadership is often a question of personal and freedom’’ in today’s world. ference toward a moral debate on life and family issues. rapport, and Pope John Paul met with world figures The pope never stopped prodding the world’s con- The pope and his aides took some flak for that. But as across the spectrum. During his pontificate, every U.S. science, nor did he shy away from appealing directly to he aged, he seemed more determined than ever to president made a pilgrimage to the Vatican, including heads of state. speak his mind, applying Church teaching to technical President George W. Bush in 2001, 2002 and 2004. Visiting Cuba in 1998, he challenged Castro’s govern-

questions such as economics, biology and demograph- The pope’s door almost always was open to the ment to allow freedom of expression and a wider APRIL 2005 CATHOLIC NEW YORK ics, and prodding individual consciences on what he has world’s powerful, a policy that brought controversial Church role in society. called a worldwide ‘‘moral crisis.’’ figures to his private library—among them Palestinian In these and other interventions, the pope felt certain ‘‘The Gospel of Life,’’ his 1995 encyclical on pro-life leader Yasser Arafat, Cuban President Fidel Castro and that he acted in the name of civilians who had little or issues that he addressed to ‘‘all people of good will’’ and former Austrian President Kurt Waldheim. no voice in world events. —CNS Pope as Philosopher: His Thought, Writings Left an Indelible Imprint

By CLAUDIA McDONNELL and destiny of the human person in light of the Gos- Conveying that message about life in Christ was a pel of Christ. key reason behind the journeys of the “pilgrim

The foundation of the pope’s philosophy, Father pope” to more than 100 countries over the course of (WP) Pope John Paul II brought to the papacy not only a Koterski said, was the understanding “that the begin- his papacy. charismatic personality that attracted people of all ning of ethics is the vision of the human person as “All the travels were part of his campaign of a new ages and all walks of life; he also was a scholar who made in the image and likeness of God, and that we evangelization, that is, the evangelization of cultures held doctorates in theology and philosophy and was must look to Christ for our model of what a person is that have been or were Christian at one time, but a university professor. In philosophy he specialized supposed to be.” have grown secular,” Father Koterski said. “This in ethics. Central to the pope’s vision of the human person, vision of the need to restore each person and each Father Joseph W. Koterski, S.J., chairman of the he continued, was “a strong sense that both the culture to the pattern of Christ has been crucial to Department of Philosophy at Fordham University, image and the likeness were wounded greatly by his program of new evangelization.” spoke with CNY about the ways in which Pope John original sin.” The pope sets out his teaching in his encyclicals, Paul’s approach to philosophy shaped his papacy “The likeness is restored by baptism, but the image beginning with the first, “The Redeemer of Man” and his teaching. The key to the pope’s philosophical is restored only gradually, over time, by learning (“”), in which “he lays out his thought, he said, is Christian humanism, or Christian how to live and to grow in Christ,” Father Koterski P9 anthropology—that is, understanding the meaning said. (Continued on Page P19) Pope John Paul II † A Shepherd for the Church and the World † 1920 - 2005 History’s Most Widely Traveled Pontiff

His 104 trips outside Italy made Pope John Paul II ■ India, Feb. 1-10, 1986. ■ Belgium, June 3-4, 1995. by far the most widely traveled pope in history. ■ Colombia, July 1-7, 1986, with a stopover in St. ■ Slovakia, June 30-July 3, 1995. The previous record holder, Pope Paul VI, earned Lucia. ■ Cameroon, South Africa and Kenya, Sept. 14-20, the nickname the ‘‘pilgrim pope’’—but he made only ■ , Oct. 4-7, 1986. 1995. nine foreign trips in a 15-year papacy. ■ Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Fiji, Sin- ■ United States, Oct. 4-8, 1995. Here is a complete list of Pope John Paul’s trips gapore and Seychelles, Nov. 19-Dec. 1, 1986. ■ Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Venezuela, outside Italy: ■ Uruguay, Chile and Argentina, March 31-April 13, Feb. 5-11, 1996. ■ Dominican Republic and Mexico, Jan. 25-Feb. 1, 1987. ■ Tunisia, April 14, 1996. 1979, with a stopover in the Bahamas. ■ West Germany, April 30-May 4, 1987. ■ Slovenia, May 17-19, 1996. ■ Poland, June 2-10, 1979. ■ Poland, June 8-14, 1987. ■ Germany, June 21-23, 1996. ■ Ireland and United States, Sept. 29-Oct. 7, 1979. ■ United States and Canada, Sept. 10-20, 1987. ■ Hungary, Sept. 6-7, 1996. ■ Turkey, Nov. 28-30, 1979. ■ Uruguay, Bolivia, Peru and Paraguay, May 7-18, ■ France, Sept. 19-22, 1996. ■ Zaire (now Congo), (Republic of) Congo, Kenya, 1988. ■ Bosnia-Herzegovina, April 12-13, 1997. Ghana, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) and Ivory ■ Austria, June 23-27, 1988. ■ Czech Republic, April 25-27, 1997. Coast, May 2-12, 1980. ■ Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and ■ Lebanon, May 10-11, 1997. ■ France, May 30-June 2, 1980. Mozambique, Sept. 10-19, 1988, with a detour through ■ Poland, May 31-June 10, 1997. ■ Brazil, June 30-July 12, 1980. South Africa. ■ France, Aug. 21-24, 1997. ■ West Germany, Nov. 15-19, 1980. ■ France, Oct. 8-11, 1988. ■ Brazil, Oct. 2-5, 1997. ■ Philippines, Guam and Japan, Feb. 16-27, 1981, with ■ Madagascar, Reunion, Zambia and Malawi, April ■ Cuba, Jan. 21-25, 1998. stopovers in Pakistan and United States. 28-May 6, 1989. ■ Nigeria, March 21-23, 1998. ■ Nigeria, Benin, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, Feb. ■ Norway, Iceland, Finland, Denmark and Sweden, ■ Austria, June 19-21, 1998. 12-19, 1982. June 1-10, 1989. ■ Croatia, Oct. 2-4, 1998. ■ Portugal, May 12-15, 1982. ■ Spain, Aug. 19-21, 1989. ■ Mexico and United States, Jan. 22-27, 1999. ■ Great Britain, May 28-June 2, 1982. ■ South Korea, Indonesia, East Timor and Mauri- ■ Romania, May 7-9, 1999. ■ Argentina, June 11-12, 1982, with a stopover in tius, Oct. 6-16, 1989. ■ Poland, June 5-17, 1999. Brazil. ■ Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mali and Burkina ■ Slovenia, Sept. 19, 1999. ■ Switzerland, June 15, 1982. Faso, Jan. 25-Feb. 1, 1990. ■ India and Georgia, Nov. 5-9, 1999. ■ San Marino, Aug. 29, 1982. ■ Czechoslovakia, April 21-22, 1990. ■ Egypt, Feb. 24-26, 2000. ■ Spain, Oct. 31-Nov. 9, 1982. ■ Mexico and Curacao, May 6-13, 1990. ■ Jordan, Israel and Palestinian territories, March ■ Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, El Salvador, Gua- ■ Malta, May 25-27, 1990. 20-26, 2000. temala, Belize, Honduras and Haiti, March 2-10, 1983, ■ Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Ivory Coast, Sept. ■ Portugal, May 12-13, 2000. with a stopover in Portugal. 1-10, 1990. ■ Greece, Syria and Malta, May 4-9, 2001. ■ Poland, June 16-23, 1983. ■ Portugal, May 10-13, 1991. ■ Ukraine, June 23-27, 2001. ■ France, Aug. 14-15, 1983. ■ Poland, June 1-9, 1991. ■ Kazakstan, Armenia, Sept. 22-27, 2001. ■ Austria, Sept. 10-13, 1983. ■ Poland and Hungary, Aug. 13-20, 1991. ■ Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, May 22-26, 2002. ■ South Korea, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands ■ Brazil, Oct. 12-20, 1991. ■ Canada, Guatemala, Mexico, July 23-Aug. 2, 2002. and Thailand, May 2-12, 1984, with a stopover in ■ Senegal, Gambia and Guinea, Feb. 19-26, 1992. ■ Poland, Aug. 16-19, 2002. United States. ■ Angola and Sao Tome and Principe, June 4-10, ■ Spain, May 3-4, 2003. ■ Switzerland, June 12-17, 1984. 1992. ■ Croatia, June 5-9, 2003. ■ Canada, Sept. 9-20, 1984. ■ Dominican Republic, Oct. 9-14, 1992. ■ Bosnia-Herzegovina, June 22, 2003. ■ Spain, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, Oct. ■ Benin, Uganda and Sudan, Feb. 3-10, 1993. ■ Slovakia, Sept. 11-14, 2003. 10-12, 1984. ■ Albania, April 25, 1993. ■ Switzerland, June 5-6, 2004. ■ Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, ■ Spain, June 12-17, 1993. ■ France, Aug. 14-15, 2004. Jan. 26-Feb. 6, 1985. ■ Jamaica, Mexico and United States, Aug. 9-16, 1993. Before becoming pope in 1978, Cardinal Karol Woj- ■ Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg, May 11-21, ■ Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, Sept. 4-10, 1993. tyla visited the United States twice. In 1969 he trav- 1985. ■ Croatia, Sept. 10-11, 1994. eled to 12 cities in 12 days. He spent six weeks in the ■ Togo, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Central African ■ Philippines, Australia, Papua New Guinea and Sri United States in 1976, visiting 13 cities, lecturing at Republic, Zaire, Kenya and Morocco, Aug. 8-19, 1985. Lanka, Jan. 12-21, 1995. universities and attending the 41st International ■ Liechtenstein, Sept. 8, 1985. ■ Czech Republic and Poland, May 20-22, 1995. Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia. —CNS

APRIL 2005 Pope John Paul II Published 14 Encyclical Letters

(WP) During his more than 26-year tenure, Pope John 1,100th anniversary of St. Methodius’ death. Third social encyclical, analyzing the social situation Paul II published 14 encyclical letters. 5. (‘‘Lord and Giver of in the light of communism’s collapse on the 100th Here is a chronological list of all his encyclicals: Life’’), 1986: On the living presence of the anniversary of Rerum Novarum. 1. Redemptor Hominis (‘‘The Redeemer of Man’’), in the Church and the world. 10. Veritatis Splendor (‘‘The Splendor of Truth’’), 1979: On Jesus Christ and the dignity his redemption 6. (‘‘Mother of the Redeemer’’), 1993: First papal encyclical in history on the founda- brings to the human race. 1987: On Mary’s role in the mystery of Christ and in tions of moral theology. 2. (‘‘Rich in Mercy’’), 1980: On the Church. 11. Evangelium Vitae (‘‘The Gospel of Life’’), 1995: On God the Father and the meaning of God’s mercy. 7. Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (‘‘On Social Concerns’’), abortion, euthanasia, embryonic experiments and 3. Laborem Exercens (‘‘On Human Work’’), 1981: 1987: Second social encyclical, marking 20th anniver- other threats to human life, its sacredness and dignity. Social encyclical on workers’ rights and dignity mark- sary of Pope Paul VI’s social encyclical Populorum 12. Ut Unum Sint (‘‘That All May Be One’’), 1995: On ing the 90th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Progressio. the importance of striving for Christian unity.

CATHOLIC NEW YORK Rerum Novarum. 8. (‘‘The Mission of the 13. Fides et Ratio (‘‘Faith and Reason’’), 1998: On 4. (‘‘The Apostles of the Slavs’’), Redeemer’’), 1991: On spreading the Gospel as the philosophy. 1985: Affirming Eastern Europe’s Christian culture in a central and permanent mandate of the Church. 14. , 2003: On the Eucharist in

P10 commemoration of SS. Cyril and Methodius on the 9. Centesimus Annus (‘‘The Hundredth Year’’), 1991: its relationship to the Church. —CNS Pope John Paul II † A Shepherd for the Church and the World † 1920 - 2005 Pilgrim Pope brought the Gospel to the whole world through his travels outside Rome

lthough slowed by age and infirmity before he workers and canonized local saints. Adied, Pope John Paul II refused to give up one His speeches, homilies and liturgies often were of his favorite pastoral duties: traveling the globe. televised in the host countries, giving him a unique Visiting 129 countries on 104 trips outside Italy, he opportunity to evangelize and stand up publicly for redefined the nature of the papacy and its once- minority Catholics. stable ministry. Earlier popes were carried on chairs Some of his warmest receptions came in Africa, a at the Vatican; this one jetted around the world, tak- continent where his 14 pastoral visits helped spur a ing the universal Church to such out-of-the-way period of tremendous growth for the Church. He places as Papua New Guinea, Madagascar and Alas- once told reporters he kept returning to Africa to ka. bring the journalistic spotlight to its sufferings. A Averaging four major trips a year, the pope logged crowd in Burkina Faso held up a banner in 1990 that more than 700,000 miles and spent about 6 percent welcomed him as ‘‘a great friend.’’ of his papacy outside the Vatican and Italy. In a 1980 trip to Latin America, he underscored the Every year his aides told him to slow down—and Church’s commitment to the poor by walking into a every year the pontiff penciled in more trips. In 2002, shack in a Rio de Janeiro slum and chatting with the despite summer heat and declining health, the pope residents. Moments earlier, in a spontaneous gesture, crisscrossed North and Central America for 11 days he had taken off his gold papal ring and offered it to to meet with youths in Toronto and canonize saints the poverty-stricken local parish. in Guatemala and Mexico. He visited with victims of Hansen’s disease in Perhaps the most personally satisfying trip was his Guinea-Bissau and blessed young AIDS sufferers in Holy Year 2000 pilgrimage to biblical lands, which Uganda and the United States. These stops provided began in Egypt with a visit to Mount Sinai and con- rare glimpses of papal emotion, and his hugs for the sick were often front-page pictures in newspapers tinued with stops in Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian CNS file photo territories. The pope walked in the footsteps of around the world. Christ and the Apostles and made a historic visit in ALL SMILES—Pope John Paul II holds a little boy during his visit to Kampala, Uganda, in 1993. The trip was one Jerusalem to the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest he pope’s seven trips to the United States featured place. of seven he took to the African continent, where Catholicism is growing rapidly. Tfestive celebrations and emotional highlights, like A year later, extending his biblical pilgrimage, he the time he embraced armless guitarist Tony made unprecedented papal stops in Greece and Syr- unprecedented flying news conferences, strolling Melendez—who strummed with his feet—in Los Ange- ia, meeting with Orthodox in Athens and visiting a through the press section of his plane and fielding les in 1987, or when he met the 375,000-strong pilgrim- mosque in Damascus, Syria. dozens of questions. age of young people who visited Denver in 1993 for Even when his failing health made it difficult for Asked about his globe-trotting papacy in 1983, he World Youth Day. him to walk and speak, the pope plowed ahead with replied: ‘‘Yes, I am convinced...that I am traveling too From a pastoral point of view, some of his toughest trips to out-of-the-way places like Azerbaijan and much, but sometimes it is necessary to do something trips were in Europe, a continent the pope declared in Bulgaria, where he was pushed on a wheeled plat- of what is too much.’’ On other occasions, he said need of re-evangelization. In places like the Netherlands form and lowered from airplanes on a modified simply, ‘‘I must visit my people.’’ in 1985, he got an earful from Catholics unhappy with cargo lift. In 2004, when he no longer could walk, he His top aides said the pontiff aimed to strengthen Church positions on issues such as birth control and visited Switzerland and Lourdes, France. the links between the Church in Rome and particular priestly celibacy. From the beginning, Pope John Paul made it clear Church communities around the globe. From the International politics sometimes colored Pope John he enjoyed being out of the Vatican and mingling mountains of Peru to the plains of India, he spoke the Paul’s travels. In Nicaragua in 1983, the pope tried to with the faithful. He treated reporters to local languages, gave pep talks to local pastoral shout down Sandinista activists who began chanting political slogans during a Mass. In Haiti on the same trip, he delivered a stern rebuke to dictator Jean-Claude APRIL 2005 CATHOLIC NEW YORK Journeys With Pope John Paul II ‘‘Baby Doc’’ Duvalier, who eventually was forced out of office. walked past the press pen, less than five feet from In his native Poland, the pope’s early visits—which By MARY ANN POUST where I stood, and he smiled—at me, I thought—and drew massive, politically energized crowds—were he nodded. credited by many for re-igniting the pro- A late night in Detroit is one of the first things I I don’t know if I smiled or nodded in return. I do movement that broke the communist hold on power in remember when I think about the five papal trips I know that I was in awe. 1989. During his 1998 visit to Cuba, one of the last bas- covered for CNY and other newspapers in a 19-year I had been on the road with him, so to speak, for 10 tions of communism, he strongly defended civil and span, trips that included his 1979 and 1995 New days and had heard him address a gathering with at Church freedoms and said he hoped the visit would York visits, a 1989 youth rally in Santiago de Com- least as many Protestants as Catholics in Columbia, bear the same fruits as his Polish trips. postela, Spain, and his historic 1998 trip to Cuba. S.C.; saw him accept an eagle feather from a mem- Yet even after the fall of European communism, invis- (WP) What I remember first, though, was Sept. 18, 1987. ber of the Pima Tribe of Native Americans in Phoe- ible walls kept Pope John Paul from visiting his flock in I had a hard-to-come-by ticket to a special press nix; watched as an auditorium full of young people several places. At the top of the list was Russia, where pen in Detroit’s Blessed Sacrament Cathedral cheered for him in Los Angeles; and much, much Orthodox leaders kept saying the time was not ripe, and where the pope was to lead a short prayer service more. China, where the government refused to recognize the on his arrival in the city around 10 p.m. It was the But the smile and the nod in Detroit were, for me, pope’s authoritative role. final city of an exhilarating but grueling nine-stop, the special part of that trip. I did not write about it in Where he did journey, there were often long-term 10-day coast-to-coast trip, and I was so tired that I the “Reporter’s Notebook” that I put together for benefits, measured in terms of Church growth and vital- considered skipping the event and going to sleep. CNY; I did not even write about the prayer service ity. And there were short-term rewards, like the mental I’m glad I didn’t. The pen was situated near the that night, since that was not one of my assignments. postcards he created: sitting in a tent with a Buddhist door where the pope was to enter, and I had a If I had written something, it would have been that monk in Thailand, greeting sword-wielding former front-row spot. The cathedral was softly lit and Archbishop Edmund Szoka, then the Archbishop of headhunters in India or celebrating Mass in a snow- P11 hushed and every seat was taken, but when he Detroit, had tears in his eyes when he welcomed the storm in war-ravaged Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. walked in, as always, the space became electric. He Holy Father that night. I did too. —CNS Pope John Paul II † A Shepherd for the Church and the World † 1920 - 2005 In U.S. Visits, Pope Urged Catholics to Use Freedom Responsibly In Pope John Paul II’s seven visits to the United 4-year-old boy who had contracted the deadly disease States, he continually urged Catholics to use their free- through a blood transfusion shortly after birth. dom responsibly and to preserve the sacredness and In Los Angeles, after the pope heard armless musician value of human life. Tony Melendez play the guitar with his toes, he jumped Christ to the world. In football stadiums in New Jersey and California, a off the stage, strode over to him and kissed him on his ‘‘At this stage of history, the liberating message of the Hispanic barrio in Texas, a historic farm in Iowa and cheek. Gospel of life has been put into your hands,’’ he told the dozens of cathedrals, the pope challenged Americans Six years later, Melendez performed at World Youth youth. to rediscover their country’s religious roots, which Day in Denver, where the pope spoke to hundreds of During his three-day stay in Denver, the pope also sought to guarantee individual freedom and human thousands of young people at the edge of the Rocky met with President Bill Clinton. dignity. Mountains. In 1995, in a visit just to the East Coast, the pope He frequently quoted long-standing icons of Ameri- Many of the youth not only walked 15 miles in the stopped in the New York Archdiocese and the Brook- can culture, including the Declaration of Indepen- summer’s heat to the site of the final Mass of the pope’s lyn Diocese and the archdioceses of Baltimore and dence, the Constitution, words of Thomas Jefferson, 1993 visit, but also camped out overnight for the service, Newark. the Pledge of Allegiance, and even the song ‘‘America where they were encouraged by the pope to bring In a formal talk to the U.N. General Assembly and in the Beautiful.’’ off-the-cuff remarks to schoolchildren, the pope urged In 1979, he visited the Statue of Liberty and in 1995, he people to work and pray for peace. reminded his listeners at Giants Stadium in New Jersey In a prayer service in Newark the pope thanked God not to forget the words emblazoned on the base of the for the ‘‘extraordinary human epic that is the United statue, symbolizing the nation’s initial willingness to States.’’ And before leaving, he again urged Catholics to care for the poor and immigrant. ‘‘love life, cherish life, defend life, from conception to In 1987, the pope told Americans at a departure cere- natural death.’’ mony at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport: ‘‘The ulti- The pope returned to the United States in 1999 for a mate test of your greatness is the way you treat every pastoral visit to St. Louis. human being, but especially the weakest and most In his 31-hour stay in the country’s heartland, the pope defenseless ones.’’ met Mark McGwire, home run champion for the St. The pope first came to the United States in 1979, Louis Cardinals, prior to leading a prayer service for visiting Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, youth in the city’s hockey arena. The next day he cele- Washington and Des Moines, Iowa. brated Mass at an enclosed football stadium for 120,000 He met with Church and civic leaders, including people in what has been described as the largest indoor President Jimmy Carter at the White House, but he Mass in the country. also took the time to personally greet many of the thou- He challenged young people not to delay living out sands who flocked to the sidelines, hoping for a hand- their faith. shake or even just a glimpse of him. In Chicago he ‘‘You are ready for what Christ wants of you now. He found time to make a phone call to a retired bishop wants you—all of you—to be light to the world,’’ he told dying of Lou Gehrig’s disease. the exuberant crowd. But the pope’s first U.S. visit also was not without He also strongly urged American Catholics to be tension. During the last day of his trip he met with ‘‘unconditionally pro-life’’ in taking stands against abor- about 7,000 women religious in Washington and was tion, euthanasia and assisted suicide, capital punishment challenged by one of them to expand women’s role in and racism. the Church. More than once he cited the ‘‘Spirit of St. Louis’’—the ‘‘I urge you, Your Holiness, to be open to and to name of the plane in which Charles Lindbergh made respond to the voices coming from the women of this Chris Sheridan history with the first solo trans-Atlantic flight—in country who are desirous of serving in and through the appeals for a new spirit of service, compassion and Church as fully participating members,’’ said Mercy ARRIVAL—With President Ronald Reagan at his side, generosity. Sister Theresa Kane, then-head of the Leadership Con- Pope John Paul II addresses the American people on In usual fashion, he also urged St. Louis Catholics to ference of Women Religious. Sept. 10, 1987, when he arrived at Miami International take up a renewed spirit of their ‘‘one nation, under God, Although the pope had stopovers in Alaska in 1981 Airport to begin a 10-day, coast-to-coast U.S. trip. with liberty and justice for all.’’ —CNS and 1984, his next major visit to the United States was in 1987, when he visited Miami; Columbia, S.C.; New Orleans; San Antonio; Phoenix; Los Angeles; Monterey and Carmel, Calif.; San Francisco; and Detroit. His Words Had Special Meaning to Poles In South Carolina, he praised the American tradition of freedom, but called on Americans not to lose sight of By FRANK MILEWSKI knock on the door by the Gestapo. The street round-

APRIL 2005 freedom’s ‘‘true meaning.’’ ups. The firing squads and the gallows. The public exe- ‘‘America: You cannot insist on the right to choose ‘‘Never be afraid.’’ These were the words John Paul cutions. The German concentration camps and the without also insisting on the duty to choose well, the II spoke to the Polish people after he was chosen Pope Soviet labor camps in Siberia. The beatings and the (WP) duty to choose in truth,’’ he said at an ecumenical and visited his homeland which had been under Com- tortures. The incessant threats and lies of their Marxist service. munist control since World War II. rulers. The apparent hopelessness of it all. He not only spoke to huge crowds, but addressed Having lived more than half his lifetime under Nazi But when John Paul II uttered these words, they smaller groups of religious leaders, black Catholics, and Communist tyranny, he had seen the fear these knew they could believe in them. They could believe Native Americans, Catholic educators and Catholic evil systems were able to instill in the hearts of his because they believed in him. He may have been the health care workers. He also met with President countrymen. Maybe they should have sensed they had Bishop of Rome but he was also their bishop. For them, Ronald Reagan. nothing to fear but fear itself. But when they tried to his words had meaning. In Los Angeles, he met privately with most of the convince themselves that they should not fear, it was John Paul II made them remember what their long U.S. bishops and noted that many Catholics ‘‘are selec- difficult to persuade their hearts to accept this idea as years of atheistic oppression tried to make them forget. tive in their adherence to’’ Church moral teachings. He valid. They remembered the words were the words of Christ said it was wrong to think that dissent poses no obsta- Their memory and their history were the obstruc- Himself. But somehow the clarity and the power of CATHOLIC NEW YORK cle to Catholic participation in the sacraments. tions. No one fought his enemy more fiercely and these words became as evident as they could ever be In San Francisco, the pope ignored the conventional courageously than the Poles. Against all odds, they after John Paul II came back home and repeated them. wisdom of the day to reach out and touch AIDS never ceased to resist. But how could such a constant Frank Milewski is president of the Downstate New

P12 patients, shaking their hands and embracing a struggle not eventually take its toll? The nighttime York Division of the Polish American Congress. Pope John Paul II † A Shepherd for the Church and the World † 1920 - 2005 ‘A Bridge’ History may see pope as godfather of communism’s demise

reformer Mikhail Gorbachev culminated in their By JOHN THAVIS historic meeting at the Vatican in 1989 and led to the restoration of Church rights throughout the Through the Years n the view of many political commentators, Soviet bloc. Ihistory will best remember Pope John Paul II When the Soviet Union disintegrated, the Vati- as the spiritual godfather of communism’s can took further advantage of the situation by EUCHARIST—Karol demise. quickly establishing diplomatic relations with the Wojtyla received his first Although he refused to claim personal credit for newly independent countries. As the pope Communion on May 25, the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe remarked, it was clear that Marxist ideology was 1929, at the Church of and its decline elsewhere around the globe, the ‘‘completely exhausted.’’ Our Lady in Wadowice, pope was keenly aware that his moral prodding— A key part of the pope’s strategy was to encour- Poland, the town where especially in his native Poland—helped redraw age communist countries to sign human rights he was born. In his the ideological map in the late 20th century. accords, then insist that they live up to them. The Communion photo he ‘‘I think the crucial role was played by Chris- Vatican, for example, repeatedly invoked the Hel- appears both serene and tianity itself: its content, its religious and moral sinki Agreement and the 1989 Vienna follow-up solemn; only a month message, its intrinsic defense of the human per- accords when discussing the human rights situa- earlier, his mother, son. All I did was recall this, repeat it and insist tion in Eastern Europe. Emilia, had died. on it,’’ the pontiff said in a 1993 interview. Another factor working for the pope was that His election in 1978 as the first pope from the Vatican’s ‘‘blessing’’ was important to coun- CNS Photo from Catholic Press Photo behind the immediately sparked tries seeking economic and political favor in the interest in Washington and apprehension in Mos- West. As communist ideology weakened, the cow, two poles of a renewed Cold War. For regimes sometimes advertised their more liberal HOLY ORDERS—Father decades the Vatican had followed a policy of approach by offering concessions on religious Karol Wojtyla posed for quiet negotiation with communist regimes, in freedom. a photo soon after his order to win realistic concessions on religious The pope adopted the same strategy during his ordination on Nov. 1, rights. Many thought would throw historic pastoral visit to Cuba in 1998, encourag- 1946. He celebrated his out this Ostpolitik in favor of more aggressive ing President Fidel Castro to make political and first Mass in the crypt of approach. religious reforms while urging the international St. Leonard at Wawel But in the end, Pope John Paul made Ostpolitik community to stop isolating the Caribbean nation. Cathedral in Krakow, the his own. He kept up the quiet negotiations, but in While much of the world was caught off- city where, years later, documents and speeches around the world he balance by the rapid disintegration of commu- he would serve as began making not-so-quiet pronouncements nism, the Vatican seemed better prepared. archbishop and then about communist ideology and practice. According to former U.S. Ambassador to the Vati- cardinal. In 1984, for example, the pope publicly criti- can Frank Shakespeare, the cardinals who elected CNS file photo cized Moscow for not letting him go to Lithuania Pope John Paul II showed amazing foresight. for religious celebrations. The same year, a Vati- They chose a man from Krakow, Poland—the can document approved by the pope referred to ‘‘geographical center of the continent’’—who was communist regimes as the ‘‘shame of our time.’’ a European Slav and a ‘‘bridge between the East START OF AN The real testing ground of East European free- and the West,’’ Shakespeare said in 1997. The ERA—Pope John Paul II dom was Poland. When the pope visited his pope spoke the languages of many of the region’s smiles after his election homeland in 1979, he helped ignite a sense of spir- people, and that made a huge difference. as pope in October 1978. itual purpose that nurtured the political hopes of When Solidarity took hold in Poland and pro- The conclave elected the Solidarity labor movement. After martial law democracy movements began spreading to other him on its second day. APRIL 2005 CATHOLIC NEW YORK was imposed and Solidarity outlawed, the pope countries, the reports that came in did not get His message from the returned to a discouraged nation in 1983, but in stuck in the Vatican bureaucracy—they went to a beginning to the Church talk after talk raised the country’s morale and Polish Slav pope who had shepherded his own and the world: ‘‘Be not political resolve. flock for 30 years under communism, Shakes- afraid! Open wide the Back once again in 1987, he repeatedly praised peare said. doors for Christ.’’ the original Solidarity ideals, hammered the ‘‘From a management point of view, the Catho- government’s labor record, called for religious lic Church was perfectly prepared for what freedom and said Marxism had lost credibility. happened,’’ he said. CNS file photo ‘‘Save your strength for the future,’’ he told a The pope realized that the moral victory over crowd of millions in Gdansk, where the pro- communism marked the start of a delicate reorga- democracy movement had begun. Two years lat- nizational phase for the Church and its pastoral LIVING MEMORY—In (WP) er, a revived Solidarity swept to political power in mission. In the space of a decade, he called two 2001, after an 11-day historic free , and European communism special synods for Europe to discuss evangeliza- vacation in the Italian began to unravel. tion plans in the wake of the Soviet collapse and Alps, the pope waved to From 1980 onward, the United States sent high- emphasized that the demoralizing effects of a half- residents who came to level from the State Department and the century of communism could not be erased over- say goodbye. The warm Central Intelligence Agency to brief the pope night. smile and the wave of about Soviet policies in Poland and elsewhere. He also rejected ideological triumphalism. greeting recall his many The Vatican never denied that these meetings Rather than dance on communism’s grave, he pre- journeys as the pilgrim took place, but denied the claim of a U.S.-Vatican ferred to warn that unchecked capitalism held its pope who traveled the ‘‘holy alliance’’ to thwart communism. own dangers—especially in the countries emerg- world to proclaim the In fact, when the first big cracks appeared in the ing from Marxist shadows. He made a point to love of Christ. P13 European communist facade, the pope turned visit 18 former Soviet republics or satellites in the East, not West, for help. His overtures to Soviet years before his death. —CNS CNS photo from Reuters Pope John Paul II † A Shepherd for the Church and the World † 1920 - 2005 Important Dates in Pope John Paul’s Life, Pontificate Here are some important dates in the life of Pope first plenary meeting of College of Cardinals in more John Paul II: than 400 years; approves Vatican declaration that 1920s Swiss-born Father Hans Kung can no longer teach as 1920: Karol Wojtyla is born May 18, baptized June Catholic theologian. 1988: Approves issuance of ’s first public 20 in Wadowice, Poland. 1980s financial report; issues encyclical, “On Social Con- 1929: His mother dies; he receives first 1980: Convenes special Dutch synod to straighten cerns”; issues letter defending women’s equality but Communion. out problems in Dutch church; becomes first modern saying they cannot be ordained priests; sets up Vati- 1930s pope to hear confessions in St. Peter’s Basilica. can commission to try reconciling followers of schis- 1938: Moves to Krakow with father; enters Jagello- 1981: Is shot, severely wounded May 13; names matic Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. nian University, joins experimental theater group. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger head of Vatican doctrinal 1989: Is widely seen as key figure in collapse of 1939: Germany and Soviet Union invade Poland. congregation. communism in Eastern Europe. 1940s 1982: Marks anniversary of attempt on his life with 1990s 1940: University studies interrupted; he works as trip to Fatima, Portugal; meets with Palestinian 1990: Issues first uniform law code for Eastern manual laborer during war. leader Yasser Arafat; makes Opus Dei the Church’s Catholic churches; issues global norms for Catholic 1941: His father dies. first personal prelature. higher education; approves Vatican instruction on 1942: Enters secret seminary in Krakow. 1983: Promulgates new Code of Canon Law; opens theologians; establishes diplomatic relations with 1944: Is hit by a car, hospitalized; is hidden in Holy Year of Redemption; visits would-be assassin, Soviet Union. archbishop’s home to avoid arrest by Nazis. Mehmet Ali Agca, in prison. 1991: Issues encyclical marking 100 years of Catho- 1945: World War II ends; he resumes studies at 1984: Establishes diplomatic relations with United lic social teaching; convenes special European synod Jagellonian University. States; approves new with Italy; visits to deal with rapid changes in wake of communism’s 1946: Is ordained priest Nov. 1; goes to Rome for World Council of Churches headquarters in Geneva. collapse. graduate studies. 1985: Warns that abortion in Europe is 1992: Has benign tumor on colon removed; issues 1948: Earns doctorate in theology. ‘‘demographic suicide’’; convenes special bishops’ official “Catechism of the Catholic Church,” first 1949: Named assistant pastor in Krakow parish. synod to review 20 years since Vatican II. such document since 16th century; receives study 1950s 1986: Condemns apartheid in South Africa; makes acknowledging Church erred in condemning Galileo. 1953: Completes university exams; teaches ethics historic visit to Rome’s synagogue; calls world reli- 1993: U.S. visit for World Youth Day is his 60th at Jagellonian University. gious leaders to Assisi to pray for peace; says theolo- trip abroad; writes first papal encyclical on nature of 1954: State abolishes Jagellonian theology faculty; gians who propagate dissent violate Catholics’ right moral theology. begins teaching philosophy at Catholic University of to true teaching; approves Vatican decision barring 1994: Declares teaching that women cannot be Lublin; earns doctorate in philosophy. U.S. Father Charles E. Curran from teaching as a priests must be held definitively; establishes diplo- 1958: Named auxiliary bishop of Krakow; ordained Catholic theologian. matic relations with Israel; publishes book, “Crossing Sept. 28. 1987: Opens Marian year and writes encyclical on the Threshold of Hope”; named Time magazine’s 1960s Mary; approves Vatican documents on beginning- “Man of the Year.” 1960: His book, “,” is of-life issues, international debt; top-level Vatican 1995: Issues major encyclicals on human life, published. meeting called to resolve Catholic-Jewish controver- ecumenism. 1962: Goes to Rome for first session of Second sies; second visit to United States is 36th trip abroad. 1996: Urges total ban on nuclear testing, global Vatican Council. land mine ban; marks 50 years as priest. 1963: Attends Vatican II second ses- 1997: Names St. Therese of Lisieux a doc- sion, is named archbishop of Krakow tor of the Church; presides at synod for Dec. 30. America, one of a series of regional synods. 1964: Is installed as archbishop of Kra- 1998: Historic Cuba visit is 81st trip kow; attends council’s third session. abroad; starts first permanent Catholic- 1965: Makes three trips to Rome to Muslim dialogue. help redraft Vatican II document on 1999: Joint Catholic-Lutheran declaration Church in modern world; attends final on justification is signed; unseals Holy Door council session. in St. Peter’s to start jubilee year 2000. 1967: Is made cardinal June 28; named 2000s to first world Synod of Bishops but stays 2000: Presides at numerous jubilee year home to protest government’s denial of events in Rome; makes historic visit to Holy a passport to Poland’s primate, Cardinal Land. Stefan Wyszynski. 2001: Issues apostolic letter on the new 1969: Visits United States, starting a millennium; in Syria, becomes first pope to series of pastoral visits to many parts of enter a mosque.

APRIL 2005 world; attends bishops’ synod in Rome. 2002: Convenes third interreligious day of 1970s peace in Assisi; visit to Toronto for World 1971: Attends first of several bishops’ (WP) Youth Day is 97th trip abroad; given honor- synods in Rome; is elected to its perma- ary citizenship of Rome. nent council. 2003: Marks 25th anniversary as pope; 1976: Visits United States, Canada. beatifies Mother Teresa of Calcutta, one of 1978: At age 58 is elected 264th pope record number of beatifications and canoni- and bishop of Rome Oct. 16, formally zations under his pontificate. inaugurates his ministry Oct. 22; visit to 2004: Opens Year of the Eucharist; Assisi is first of 146 trips within Italy; returns revered saints’ relics to Orthodox visit to a Rome parish marks start of vis- patriarch of ; publishes its to 317 of Rome’s 333 parishes. CNS Photo by Arturo Mari fourth book as pope, “Rise, Let Us Be on 1979: Visits Dominican Republic and Our Way.” Mexico, his first of 104 trips abroad as SPECIAL BOND—Pope John Paul II greets Mother Teresa at the Vatican in this

CATHOLIC NEW YORK 2005: Publishes new book, “Memory and pope; also visits Poland, Ireland, United undated file photo. They shared a commitment to serving the poor and pro- Identity: Conversations Between Millenni- States and Turkey; publishes first encyc- tecting the sanctity of life. In 2003, the pope presided at the beatification ums”; hospitalized, undergoes tracheotomy. lical, ; convenes ceremony for Mother Teresa, who died in 1997. Dies April 2. P14 Pope John Paul II † A Shepherd for the Church and the World † 1920 - 2005

El Papa Juan Pablo II Fue la Conciencia del Mundo, Apóstol de Nuestros Días

ese año le llevó a las raíces de la fe y dramáticamente Por JOHN THAVIS ilustró las mejoradas relaciones de la Iglesia con los judíos. Presidió también sobre una apología pública l Papa Juan Pablo II, que falleció el 2 de abril a sin precedentes por los pecados de los cristianos cuando fue elegido Papa el 16 de octubre de 1978. En Ela edad de 84, fue una voz de conciencia para durante capítulos oscuros de la historia de la Iglesia, la Plaza de San Pedro esa noche, estableció su estilo el mundo y un apóstol de nuestros días para su tales como la Inquisición y las Cruzadas. papal en una charla sincera pronunciada en italiano Iglesia. En un documento prominente, la carta apostólica fluyente interrumpido por ruidosos aplausos de la Trajo a ambos papeles un intelecto de filósofo, “Novo Millennio Ineunte” (“Al comienzo del Nuevo multitud. una intensidad de peregrino espiritual y un don Milenio”), el Papa presentó su visión del futuro de la El pontificado empezó a paso de ciclón, con viajes de actor para lo dramático. Esa combinación hizo Iglesia y pidió un “Nuevo sentido de misión” para a varios continentes, conferencia de prensa en vuelo, de él uno de los líderes morales más poderosos de introducir el Evangelio en todas las áreas de la vida una encíclica sobre la redención, una visita nuestra edad moderna. social y económica. ecuménica a los Ortodoxos en Turquía y varias Como cabeza de la Iglesia por más de 26 años, A través de los años, la reacción pública del men- reuniones importantes con líderes del mundo. mantuvo una línea fuerte en cuestiones doctrina- saje del Papa y sus decisiones fue mixta. Fue acla- El 13 de mayo de 1981, la bala de un terrorista turco les y trazó límites claros sobre disentimiento. Por mado como un atrevido crítico social, reprendido puso al papado en espera por varios meses. El asalt- muchos años fue un incansable evangelizador en como el último socialista” y aclamado por millones. ante, Agca, sirvió 19 años en una prisión italiana antes Roma y en el exterior, pero hacia el final, su fra- El papa nunca presto mucha atención a las clasifica- de ser enviado a Turquía. El Papa se puso pronto en gilidad le dejo sin fuerza para murmurar una ciones de su popularidad. camino, eventualmente recorriendo más de 700 000 bendición. La personalidad del Papa Juan Pablo fue poderosa millas. Sus 14 visitas a África fueron parte de una El primer Papa no italiano en 455 años, el Papa y complicada. En sus comienzos podía manejar una exitosa estrategia de la expansión de la Iglesia ahí; Juan Pablo llegó a ser un protagonista espiritual multitud y bromear con jóvenes y adultos, pero la en América Latina tuvo como meta controlar el en dos transiciones globales: la caída de comu- espontaneidad no fue su especialidad. Como director activismo politico por el clero y los avances hechos nismo europeo, que empezó en su patria, Polonia estable señaló las direcciones, pero frecuentemente por sectas religiosas. en 1989, y el paso al tercer milenio de Cristiandad. dejó los detalles de las normas en manos de sus A pesar de los recelos dentro y fuera de la Iglesia El nuevo milenio trajo un resurgimiento en ter- ayudantes. sobre enseñanzas papales específicas, fue calurosa- rorismo global, y el papa reunió a líderes ínter mente recibido en los Estados Unidos, donde atrajo a confesionales para renunciar a la violencia en u reacción al creciente escándalo de abuso sex- medio millón de peregrinos jóvenes en las festiv- nombre de la religión. Al mismo tiempo que Sual por clérigos en los Estados Unidos en 2001- idades del Día Mundial de la Juventud en Denver. condenó los ataques terroristas, urgió a los Esta- 02 subrayó su estilo de gobierno: Sufrió hondamente, Usó también una de sus visitas a EE.UU. para con- dos Unidos a responder con limitación, y criticó oro largamente e hizo breves pero fuerte declara- centrarse en la importante cuestión de disentimiento. agudamente la guerra dirigida por EE.UU. contra ciones enfatizando la gravedad de tal pecado por En 1987, dijo a los americanos que era un “grave Iraq en 2003. sacerdotes. Convocó una reunión en la cumbre en el error” pensar que el desacuerdo con las enseñanzas Como pasto de la Iglesia universal, viajó alrede- Vaticano para resolver el problema, pero dejó a sus de la Iglesia era compatible con sed un buen católico. dor del mundo, llevando su mensaje a 129 países consejeros en el Vaticano y a los líderes de la Iglesia El Papa más tarde aprobó un catecismo universal en 104 viajes fuera de Italia, incluyendo siete a los en los EE.UU. que encuentren las respuestas. Al como un remedio a la ambigüedad doctrinal. Empujó Estados Unidos. Sorprendió y agradó a millones al final, aprobó los cambios que hicieron más fácil también posiciones de la Iglesia más en el foro públi- comunicarse con ellos en sus propios idiomas. deponer a sacerdotes abusivos. co. En los años de 1990 urgió a los obispos del mundo A veces, usó el mundo como púlpito: en África, El Papa fue una persona esencialmente privada que aumenten su lucha contra el aborto y la eutana- para deplorar el hambre; en Hiroshima, Japón, con una profunda vida espiritual—algo que no fue sia, diciendo que las prácticas llegan a ser un mod- para denunciar la carrera armamentista; en Calcu- fácilmente traducida por los medios. Sin embargo en erno “degüello de inocentes.” Su afilada crítica de ta, India, para alabar la generosidad de Madre sus primeros años, este papa pareció hecho para los éstas y otras medidas contra la familia ayudó a que la Teresa, Ya sea en casa o en camino, tuvo como medios modernos. ¿Quién puede olvidar al papa Revista Time le escogiera como el Hombre del Año meta ser el evangelizador más activo de la Iglesia, meneando su dedo firmemente a un sacerdote Sand- 1994. tratando de abrir cada esquina de la sociedad inista en Nicaragua, abrazando a una joven víctima humana a los valores cristianos. de SIDA en California o conversando estrechamente us anteriores encíclicas sociales hicieron también Dentro de la Iglesia, el Papa fue no menos vigor- en una celda de prisión con quien fuera su posible Sun fuerte impacto, hablando sobre las dimen- APRIL 2005 CATHOLIC NEW YORK oso y no menos controversial. Castigó a teólogos asesino, Mehmet Ali Agca? siones morales del trabajo humano, el ancho abismo disidentes, excomulgó a los autodenominados Karol Josef Wojtila nació el 18 de mayo de 1920, en entre ricos y pobres y los defectos del sistema de “tradicionalistas,” y mantuvo posiciones impopu- Wadowice, un pueblo pequeño en el sur de Polonia. libre Mercado. A petición del Papa, el Vaticano pub- lares de la Iglesia tales como el pronunciamiento Perdió su madre a la edad de 9 años, su único her- licó un compendio exhaustivo de enseñanzas contra el control artificial de la natalidad. Al mano a la edad de 9 y su padre a la edad de 20. Aun sociales en 2004. mismo tiempo, impulsó la doctrina social católica en su edad juvenil, dijeron sus amigos, era profunda- El Papa fue un cauto ecumenista, insistiendo en a áreas relativamente nuevas tales como la bioéti- mente religioso y contemplativo. que las diferencias reales entre religiones e iglesias ca, economía internacional, racismo y ecología. Actor realizado en el teatro secreto de Krakow no deben ser encubiertas. Sin embargo hizo varios En sus últimos años, el Papa se movía con difi- durante la Guerra, cambió de carrera y entró en un gestos dramáticos que serán recordados por mucho cultad, se cansaba fácilmente y era menos expre- seminario clandestino después de haber sido rec- tiempo: Incluyen el comienzo de un diálogo sivo, síntomas todos de un desorden del sistema hazado por un monasterio Carmelita con el consejo: teológico entre Católicos y Ortodoxos en 1979, vis- (WP) nervioso que se creyó fue la enfermedad de Par- Usted está destinado a cosas más grandes.” itando una sinagoga en roma en 1986 e invitando a kinson. Cuando celebró su vigésimo quinto ani- Después de estudiar teología y filosofía en Roma, líderes religiosos del mundo a una “oración en la versario en octubre de 2003, sus ayudantes tuvi- retornó a Polonia para trabajar en una parroquia en cumbre” por la paz en 1986. En 2001, hizo una visita eron que moverle en una silla y leer sus discursos 1948, pasando fines de semana en excursiones de histórica a Grecia, donde se reunió con líderes orto- por él. Sin embargo continuó adelante hasta los campamento. Cuando fue nombrado obispo auxiliar doxos, luego viajó a Damasco, Siria, donde llegó a ser límites de su capacidad física, convencido de que de Krakow en 1964 fue el Obispo más joven en el primer Papa que visita una mezquita. tal sufrimiento era en sí mismo una forma de Polonia, y avanzó rápidamente a través de las filas, A su propio rebaño, le recordó continuamente que liderato espiritual. llegando a ser el arzobispo de Krakow en 1964. Llegó la oración y los sacramentos son cruciales para ser Dirigió a la Iglesia a través de un profundo pro- también a la atención de la Iglesia universal por un buen cristiano. Puso a María como modelo de grama de eventos de examen de conciencia medio de su trabajo en importantes documentos del santidad para toda la Iglesia, puso al día el Rosario durante el Gran Jubileo del año 2000, haciendo Segundo Sínodo del Vaticano. con cinco nuevos “Misterios de Luz” y nombró más P15 realidad un sueño de su pontificado. Su larga- Aunque crecientemente respetado en Roma, el de 450 nuevos santos—más que todos sus predece- mente esperada peregrinación a la Tierra Santa Cardenal Wojtyla fue virtualmente desconocido sores combinados. Chris Sheridan

Chris Sheridan A Special Love for Youth Pope John Paul II had an extraordinary rapport with young people. He clearly loved them, and they returned that love wholeheartedly. He also respected young people and empathized with the struggles they encountered as they grew toward maturity. At World Youth Day gatherings and other meetings, the pope seemed to convey his love to each one of the thousands of teens and young adults who cheered, clapped, wept and prayed with him. Memorable moments, clockwise from above: the pope’s warmth is evident as he blesses a young woman; uniformed school children wait eagerly for the pope’s arrival at Newark International Airport in 1995; thousands of young people await the pope’s arrival at Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colo., for World Youth Day in 1993; rosary entwined in his fingers, a young man prayerfully participates in the papal Mass in Central Park in 1995. APRIL 2005 (WP) CATHOLIC NEW YORK

Chris Sheridan

P16 Maria R. Bastone Pope John Paul II † A Shepherd for the Church and the World † 1920 - 2005 Pope John Paul II Looked Closely at Role of Women in Church

By CINDY WOODEN

In authoritative theological documents and in heartfelt pastoral letters, Pope John Paul II looked at beings are sinful, he said, and ‘‘the situations in the role of women in the Church and in the world which the woman remains disadvantaged or dis- more closely than any other pope in modern criminated against by the fact of being a woman’’ are history. the continuing consequences of sin. On topics as diverse as the priesthood, mother- The fact that God chose a woman, the Virgin hood, abortion, work, religious life and peacemak- Mary, to play such an important role in the world’s ing, women were a recurring and often controver- salvation leaves little doubt about the God-given sial subject for Pope John Paul. dignity of women, the pope wrote. During his more than 26-year pontificate, as In his 1994 apostolic letter on ordination, Pope women consolidated their place in some of the John Paul said the Church’s ban on women priests is highest echelons of temporal power, the pope and definitive and not open to debate among Catholics. the Catholic Church were often the objects of criti- The all-male priesthood, he wrote, does not repre- cism about the status of women in the Church. sent discrimination against women, but fidelity to The issue of women and the priesthood generated Christ’s actions and his plan for the Church. discussion and dissent within the Catholic Church The pope’s document reaffirmed the basis for and became a major ecumenical stumbling block ordaining only men: Christ chose only men to be his when some churches in the Anglican Communion Apostles, it has been the constant practice of the began ordaining women. Catholic and Orthodox churches, and the Nevertheless, during Pope John Paul’s pontificate, magisterium’s teaching on the matter has been con- women took over pastoral and administrative duties sistent. in priestless parishes, they were appointed chancel- Pope John Paul took his teaching directly to the lors of dioceses around the world, and they began world’s women in a 1995 letter in which he thanked swelling the ranks of ‘‘experts’’ at Vatican synods them for all they have done, apologized for the and symposiums. In 2004, for the first time, the Church’s failure to always recognize their contribu- pope appointed two women theologians to the pres- tions and condemned the ‘‘long and degrading histo- tigious International Theological Commission, one ry’’ of sexual violence against women. of whom is Sister Sara Butler, M.S.B.T., a faculty Evaluating the women’s liberation movement as member at St. Joseph’s Seminary, and named a Har- being generally positive, the pope called for changes vard University law professor, Mary Ann Glendon, Maria R. Bastone to make women’s equality a reality in the world. He to be president of the of Social called for equal pay for equal work, protection for Sciences. PUBLIC PRAYER—Woman prays Rosary on the street working mothers and fairness in career advance- While defending women’s rights and their ‘‘equal outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1995 as Pope John ment. dignity’’ with men, the pope also highlighted the Paul II, along with Cardinal O’Connor, led a recitation But he also mentioned a growing concern in his ways women are and should be different from men. of the Glorious Mysteries inside the cathedral. The thinking and teaching: a belief that modern societies Women and men have complementary natures, pontiff later came outside and electrified the large were denigrating motherhood and penalizing he taught, and their ‘‘diversity of roles’’ in the crowd by warmly greeting people along Fifth Avenue. women who chose to have children. Church and in the family are a reflection of that While the pope carefully avoided discussing reality. particularly on the importance of women—mothers, women exclusively in terms of their possible roles The pope’s teaching on complementarity formed sisters and friends—in the lives of priests. as virgins or mothers, he exalted the virtues of both. the basis for a 2004 document by the Congregation The starting point of ‘‘’’ was He repeatedly pointed to women’s potential as for the Doctrine of the Faith on male-female collab- what Scripture had to say about women, especially bearers of life as part of the ‘‘feminine genius’’ that oration in the Church and society. Describing dis- Eve and Mary, and Christ’s attitude toward women the world so desperately needs as it struggles crimination against women and male-female rivalry in the New Testament. against the ‘‘culture of death’’ marked by war, abor- APRIL 2005 CATHOLIC NEW YORK as results of sin, the document said the differences In the letter, the pope argued against outdated cul- tion and euthanasia. between the sexes are part of God’s plan for tural views that God meant women to be subject to The family, in its natural role as a ‘‘sanctuary of creation—not social constructs—and that Church men. Both were created in God’s image and likeness life and love,’’ is the place to start rebuilding societ- and society benefit when the gifts of both are with equal dignity, he said. ies torn apart by violence, Pope John Paul recognized. Women have been subjugated because human taught. —CNS While decrying discrimination against women and urging their promotion in all spheres of com- munity and social life, the pope unequivocally reaf- A Treasured Memory From Castel Gandolfo firmed the teaching that the Church cannot ordain them to the priesthood. By SISTER PAULINE CHIRCHIRILLO, PBVM Since August 16 is the anniversary of the day I The basic elements of his teaching on women are professed my vows as a Sister of the Presentation of (WP) found in his 1988 apostolic letter, ‘‘Mulieris Digni- August 16, 1987 is a day that will live on as one of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I was chosen to do a read- tatem’’ (‘‘The Dignity of Women’’), his 1994 apos- my most treasured memories. The 27 participants ing at the Mass. tolic letter, ‘‘On Reserving Priestly Ordination to in my sabbatical program, which truly represented After Mass we assembled in the Pope’s private Men Alone,’’ and his 1995 ‘‘.’’ the Universal Church, consisting of a bishop, audience hall, where we had group pictures taken, as But his thoughts on women also could be found in priests, religious, married and single lay people well as individual ones, then he greeted each of us, significant segments of his weekly general audience from every continent, had the privilege of attend- gave us a pair of rosary beads and a beautiful book of series on sexuality and on the structure of the ing Mass in the Pope’s private chapel in Castel his travels. Never will I forget the privilege that was Church, his 1988 apostolic exhortation on the , Gandolfo. mine on that August day, in the Alban Hills in Rome. his 1995 message for World Peace Day, and his mes- We were mindful of the fact that we were on It was truly a gift from God to meet the man who sages to the leaders of the U.N. conferences on pop- holy ground when we entered the chapel, which brought the message of God’s saving love to all ulation and on women. only accommodated about 35 people, and saw the peoples. P17 Even one of his annual heart-to-heart letters to the Pope kneeling in prayer before the Blessed Sister Pauline is director of the Society for the Prop- world’s priests dwelt on the topic of women, Sacrament. agation of the Faith in the Archdiocese. Pope John Paul II † A Shepherd for the Church and the World † 1920 - 2005 Dialogue Pope made important overtures to non-Christian religions

and Jewish communities in more places around the Germany in 1980, he summarized the proper Catho- By JERRY FILTEAU world than all the previous popes since Peter.’’ lic approach to Judaism with the words: ‘‘Who The most striking of these encounters was the meets Jesus Christ meets Judaism.’’ ore than any pontiff in modern history, Pope pope’s one-mile trip across the Tiber River to the When Carmelite nuns set up a convent outside the MJohn Paul II made important overtures to non- Synagogue of Rome to pray with the city’s Jewish gates of Auschwitz in the 1980s, provoking Jewish Christian religions, using documents, prayer meet- community in 1986. It was the first time a pope had protests around the world, the pope intervened per- ings and personal visits to open the doors of dia- entered the Rome synagogue, and symbolically it sonally to ask the nuns to move, and he donated logue. marked a watershed in Catholic-Jewish relations. money to help them do it. He helped the Church overcome periodic tensions At the pope’s urging, the Vatican established dip- with Jews by visiting a synagogue, praying at Nazi n his jubilee pilgrimage to the Holy Land, the lomatic relations with Israel in 1994; this offered a death camps and approving a landmark document Ipope met with Holocaust survivors at a memorial diplomatic channel on controversies that often on the Holocaust that apologized for Christians’ fail- in Jerusalem and prayed at the Western Wall, strik- included interreligious elements. ure to oppose the persecution of Jews. ing a chord with Jews around the world. The Church’s relations with Islam under Pope Pope John Paul advanced the Church’s sometimes- But along with progress, there was plenty of con- John Paul were conditioned by political realities in difficult relations with Islam by many countries across the globe. visiting a mosque, speaking to In recent years, the pope made Muslim groups on his foreign special efforts to assure Muslims trips and insisting on full reli- that the Church did not view glo- gious freedom in countries bal terrorism and the efforts to under Islamic law. curb it as a ‘‘religious war” He was convinced that prayer between Islam and Christianity. could bring believers together, One of Pope John Paul’s first an idea that inspired the 1986 trips abroad was to Turkey, an World Day of Prayer for Peace overwhelmingly Muslim country, in Assisi, Italy. in 1979. In a talk to the tiny Cath- That unprecedented gathering olic minority there he urged at the pope’s invitation drew respect for the religious and leaders of Jews, Buddhists, Shin- moral values of Islam. toists, Muslims, Zoroastrians, In August 1985, when he visited Hindus, Unitarians, traditional Morocco at the invitation of King African and Native American Hassan II, he became the first religions and many others. pope to visit an officially Islamic Together, under the roof of the country at the invitation of its Basilica of St. Francis, they all religious leader. In May 2001, the prayed, side by side, with Cath- pope became the first pontiff in olic, Orthodox and Protestant history to enter a Muslim place of leaders for world peace. worship when he visited the After the Sept. 11, 2001, terror- Umayyad mosque in Damascus, ist attacks in the United States Syria. by extremists acting in the name Official Catholic-Muslim dia- of Islam, the pope convened logue expanded during his papa- another Assisi meeting in early CNS photo from Reuters cy, including ties between the 2002 and told more than 200 SEEKING UNDERSTANDING—Following tradition, Pope John Paul II gently places a written prayer Vatican and the Islamic clerics of spiritual leaders: ‘‘Terrorism in an opening in the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Judaism’s holiest site, on March 26, 2000, at Cairo’s al-Azhar University, never again.’’ The participants conclusion of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. His outreach to non-Christian faiths, while not whom the pope met during a trip issued a joint condemnation of untouched by controversy, won him respect and affection among Jews, Muslims and many others. to Egypt in 2000. But vast gulfs all violence in the name of reli- remained, chief among them the gion. troversy in Catholic-Jewish relations under Pope persecution of Christians in parts of Africa and Asia In scores of other encounters and speeches over John Paul. under Islamic religious law. more than two decades, Pope John Paul sought to Even the Vatican’s Holocaust document, issued The pope repeatedly preached respect for the APRIL 2005 draw representatives of all religions into deeper with a papal introduction in early 1998 after more rights of Muslims to practice their faith, but often mutual understanding, respect and dialogue about than 10 years of preparation, drew mixed reaction. It lamented the fact that in many countries—chief

(WP) shared values and beliefs. won universal approval for its mea culpa about past among them, Saudi Arabia—Christians had no simi- At the same time, he insisted that Catholics Christian discrimination against the Jews and its lar rights, and even the possession of a Bible was engaged in dialogue be true to their core beliefs and strong condemnation of the practices and ideas that considered a crime. the spread of the Gospel. In 2000, he approved a led to the Nazis’ ‘‘final solution.’’ Pope John Paul met several times with the Dalai controversial Vatican document emphasizing the But many Jewish leaders said they were disap- Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Bud- universal and absolute value of Christianity and the pointed with the document’s distinction between dhists, and with Buddhist, Shintoist, Zen and other ‘‘gravely deficient situation’’ of those outside the Christian ‘‘anti-Judaism’’ and Nazi ‘‘anti-Semitism’’ Eastern religious representatives. In Thailand in Church. and its defense of Pope Pius XII’s policies during 1984, he visited the country’s 87-year-old supreme The pope’s dialogue efforts focused especially on World War II. In 2003, the pope ordered the early Buddhist patriarch, Vasana Tara, as the patriarch Judaism and Islam—the other monotheistic faiths opening of some archival material related to Pope meditated in front of a golden statue of Buddha. that, like Christianity, claim Abraham as their father Pius XII and the war, so scholars could better evalu- Ten years later, however, the pope’s description of

CATHOLIC NEW YORK in faith and the God of Abraham as their God. ate the period. Buddhism as ‘‘in large measure an ‘atheistic’ system’’ Eugene Fisher, associate director of the U.S. bish- The pope spoke movingly of Jewish Holocaust occasioned criticism by some Buddhist leaders. The ops’ Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious victims during his first trip back to Poland in 1979, Vatican had to reiterate the pope’s deep respect for Affairs, said: ‘‘Pope John Paul met with more Jews P18 when he visited the Auschwitz death camp. Visiting the religion. —CNS Pope John Paul II † A Shepherd for the Church and the World † 1920 - 2005 New Traditions: Pope Invented His Own Papal Customs

By JOHN THAVIS

f there’s anything Pope John Paul II loved more Ithan following traditions, it was inventing new ones. During his pontificate, the Polish-born pontiff filled his calendar with annual events of every vari- ety: hearing confessions, baptizing babies, visiting Rome parishes or holding youth rallies, to name a few. That’s on top of the traditional papal ceremonies he inherited when elected in 1978. Only when his health and mobility seriously declined in his later years did he cut back—reluctantly—on several of MOMENT OF GRACE— these self-styled customs. Pope John Paul II baptized In 1980, he instituted the practice of hearing con- Mauri Carla Theresa of Mex- fessions in St. Peter’s Basilica on Good Friday, ico in the on apparently becoming the first pope in history to the feast of the Baptism of hear the confessions of ordinary Catholics. the Lord in 1997, a custom The year before, he began writing an annual Holy he initiated. Despite a heavy Thursday letter to priests of the world, as a sign of schedule and the demands his special concern for the priesthood and the bur- of his office, the pope made dens of pastoral ministry. time for pastoral outreach The pope liked to move around, and in 1979 he to ordinary Catholics, such revived the practice of leading an Ash Wednesday as hearing confessions on on Rome’s Aventine Hill, before placing Good Friday and visiting ashes on the foreheads of cardinals, bishops and parishes in his care as religious at the Basilica of . The Lenten Bishop of the Diocese of season ‘‘cannot pass unnoticed,’’ he remarked dur- Rome. ing the ceremony. For many years on March 19, feast of St. Joseph, he traveled to an Italian factory or other workplace CNS photo from Reuters to highlight Church concerns about the world of labor. tradition of baptizing babies from around the world Life, celebrated Feb. 2, feast of the Presentation of ‘‘In some of these events and meetings, the pope in a Mass marking the feast of the baptism of the the Lord, and celebrated Mass to inaugurate it. wanted to be more visible,’’ said one Vatican offi- Lord. One of Pope John Paul’s biggest innovations was cial, adding that the pope’s presence gave events ‘‘a World Youth Day, launched by the pope in 1986, his pastoral visits to Rome parishes. Pope Paul VI sense of a ‘happening.’ ’’ has become one of the most popular international paid occasional visits to churches in his diocese, The pope also wanted to be seen engaged celebrations on the Church calendar. Every two or but this pope made it systematic, calling on more directly in pastoral action, not sitting behind a desk three years, Pope John Paul presided over a mega- than 300 parishes. In 2002, when ailing health made in his private library. gathering of young people. such visits too cumbersome, he amended the tradi- The events often had a sacramental character. The pope also established the World Day of the tion to have representatives of Rome parishes visit Soon after he was elected, he began ordaining bish- Sick Feb. 11, feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, for which him at the Vatican. It was a natural choice for the ops in a lengthy liturgy in St. Peter’s Basilica on the he prepared an annual message. Polish pope—he had visited parishes week after feast of the Epiphany. Later, he made an annual In 1997, he instituted a World Day of Consecrated week as archbishop of Krakow and considered it

one of the best parts of his job. APRIL 2005 CATHOLIC NEW YORK For many years, the pope also revived the custom Pope as Philosopher... of a Dec. 31 papal visit to a Rome church to offer a year-end Te Deum of thanksgiving. (Continued from Page P9) secular ethics,” he said. Another tradition Pope John Paul brought to the In his letter on suffering, the pope “refuses an Vatican was a simple one that resonated with Cath- vision in detail,” Father Koterski said. The encycli- abstract effort to justify the presence of evil in the olics all over the world: a Christmas tree and a cals “The Splendor of Truth” (“Veritatis Splendor”) world, but instead shows how to join one’s sufferings Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square, just below the and “The Gospel of Life” (Evangelium Vitae”) pre- to Christ, and therein to find the meaning of suffer- papal window. Like thousands of others, he visited sented “a detailed account of what Christian moral ing,” Father Koterski said. it during the Christmas season. teaching must be in order to achieve this objective: Discussing how the pope’s thought influenced the Not all the pope’s new traditions were publicized, the restoration of the image of God that is so badly Church, he said that “two things are crucial”—the however. On his birthday, he usually invited cardi- (WP) wounded,” Father Koterski said. and The Catechism of the nals in Rome who were over age 80 to a lunch and He predicted that two of the pope’s works would Catholic Church. some open talk about Church issues. It was a sign still be studied a century from now: “The Splendor Vatican II needed to be interpreted in the actual that he appreciated their input, even though he of Truth” and the apostolic letter “On the Christian life of the Church, he said, and over the 26 years of maintained the rule excluding them from a con- Meaning of Human Suffering.” his papacy, Pope John Paul II “attempted to show up clave because of their age. In “The Splendor of Truth,” the pope challenged what an authentic interpretation is and what needed For many years, just after Christmas, the pope several misconceptions in modern ethics, Father to be renewed, without severing the continuity often paid a couple of barely noticed visits to two Koterski said. between old and new.” other groups: He met with garbage collectors at a “On the question of freedom, he contrasts a very The catechism, he continued, bears the strong small office near the Vatican and with nuns and important and legitimate sense of freedom, funda- imprint of the pope’s understanding of Church doc- homeless people at a shelter operated by Mission- mental to the Christian view of the person, with the trine. It reveals “the updating of the way we explain aries of Charity in the Vatican. P19 prevailing ideas of autonomy that so badly miscon- things, but the essential continuity in the truths of Small traditions—but, like the big ones, Pope John strue the nature of the person in much of modern the faith.” Paul made room for them on his calendar. —CNS ‘Totus Tuus’

CNS Photo by Joe Rimkus, Jr.