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Pope John Paul II — The globalization of hope


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By John Metzler
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM

Friday, April 8, 2005

UNITED NATIONS — The mournful end of an extraordinary Pontificate has arrived. People the world over are paying their respects to a man whose passing after his 26 year reign presented a powerful and positive message of “Be Not Afraid!” John Paul II’s multifaceted legacy has been well remembered and it appears joyously celebrated.

But his deeper political gravitas is yet to be fully appreciated.

A little historical context. When John Paul II ascended the throne of St. Peter in 1978, the world was a fundamentally different place — the Soviet Union was on the rise with its global expansionism and its power and reach seemingly unchallenged. The West — exemplified by the Carter Administration — appeared transfixed with a culture of accommodation and at best containment. Central America was gripped by a number of communist insurgencies, often ironically supported by Marxists in the Catholic Church under the banner of so-called “liberation theology.”

The election of a Polish Pope, while breaking the 400 year Italianate tradition in the Roman Catholic Church, was to prove of monumental geopolitical importance as well. Here was a man who had personally faced Poland’s political Calvary of the Nazi occupation, the Soviet rule, and subsequent membership in the Soviet Empire.

At the time of John Paul II’s selection, East Bloc regimes such as Poland and Hungary would best be described as gripped not so much by fear but anesthetized by gloom and despair. The new Polish Pope countered with a message of hope and faith — a bright dawn of an Easter morning amidst the gloom of the Polish People’s Republic!

In the beginning, the communist rulers failed to appreciate the true social and political power of the Church. Stalin’s quip, “How many divisions does the Pope have?’ may have summarized the mood but would soon come to haunt the Kremlin itself. The communists would learn a lesson but not before the Polish people were again tested by a series of crackdowns and martial law.

The Catholic Church in officially communist Poland — and especially the people-- were spontaneously energized by this native son of Krakow. A subtle but persistent combination of the spiritual and cultural power of Pope John Paul II, the temporal organization of the Solidarity trade union under Lech Walesa, and the pro-active international political pressure from the Reagan Administration became an inexorable force for change which would erode the very foundation of the East Bloc regimes, bring about the political meltdown of the Cold War, and ultimately lead to the collapse of the Soviet Empire.

The Pope’s message of hope was not only confined to Cold War standoffs in Europe but extended to a wider message that people the world over were individually important.

The plethora of Papal visits the world over, underscored John Paul’s personal commitment to hear all voices, to give people a sense of hope, belonging and worth, from Mexico City to Manila and from New York to Nairobi. He would condemn conflict from Central America, to East Timor, to the unspeakable violence now raging across Africa.

Naturally the United Nations offered him a special pulpit to address the world. In October 1978, this correspondent had the honor to see and hear the “new Polish Pope” as he was near universally known. His address to the correspondents — calling on the media to be “Messengers of the Truth,” was perhaps his most eloquent statement on the Fourth Estate. Indeed the Pope emerged as a media-savvy spiritual figure in a secular world.

The two Papal visits to New York nonetheless became celebrations of near festival proportions of a unique man who was not shrouded in the traditional robed mystery of the monsignori but rather a smiling and truly accessible figure who had a special connection with youth, what became known as the Generation of John Paul II.

His funeral in the magisterial surroundings of Vatican City was attended by millions of pilgrims who joyfully traveled to Rome from afar — mostly the young — to say a final farewell.

This man of extraordinary humility, humor, and hope transcended the generations.

This vigorous Bishop of Krakow, who came to Rome and globalized Hope, will be remembered as a truly historic figure, John Paul the Great.

John J. Metzler is a U.N. correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He writes weekly for World Tribune.com.




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