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A COMPLEX PAPACY

CARDINAL KAR0L WOJTYLA, he with the Polish name that Vatican-watchers found close to unpronounceable when his shock election by the Sacred College of Cardinals was sprung on the world on October 16, 1978, died not just as the third longest serving Pope in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. He was of course the first non-Italian Pope in 450 years, the one who spoke the most languages and wrote the most prolifically, the globe-trotter who chalked up more miles (by air and popemobile) than dozens of his predecessors put together. His quarter century reign as John Paul II witnessed earth-shaking changes especially in the socio-political sphere, and his pro-active role in influencing these changes earned him numerous `Man of the Century' citations from theological fellow-travellers, ideological admirers, and the faithful. A trained actor, athlete, philosopher, theologian, writer, and rhetorician, Pope John Paul II was charismatic until the last (even when his health was ravaged by Parkinson's disease and a mini-textbook of other ailments). He used his formidable intellectual and physical powers to defend and clarify Catholic doctrinaire teachings against diverse forces clamouring and working for change. His critics, liberals as well as radicals, considered him reactionary to the core, intolerant of dissent, a centralising authoritarian who went so far as to pack the College of Cardinals with those who, for the most part, seemed to believe that God's work meant resisting doctrinal and social change.

His original selection might have been influenced as much by his uncompromising anti-communist views and his readiness to do ideological combat as it was by his credentials as a theologian, intellectual, and polymath. Lifelong, he led hardcore resistance within his Church to abortion rights and contraception, to the ordination of women, to liberalisation of the absolute rule of priestly celibacy, to any truck with divorce. After the scandal of priest paedophiles broke out in America, the Vatican's response was found, even by many American Catholics, to be temporising and "out of touch." The Pope's views on the equality of women and their role as mothers, educators, and mainstays of the family were virtually identical to the ideas recently expounded on the subject by the Sarsangchalak (or supremo) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, K.S. Sudarshan. Cracking down on `liberation theology' and radical Catholic dissent, the Vatican he shaped did not hesitate to employ the weapon of excommunication to ensure adherence to Church teachings. But to note only these aspects would be to miss the complexities and positive surprises of the papacy of John Paul II.

His 14 encyclicals suggest that his mission as `Vicar of Christ' went well beyond resisting change. Some of these papal instructions are justly celebrated for their profound, elegantly argued positions on vital issues of social and economic justice, mass deprivation, human rights and dignity, the precious value of life, and war and peace. The Pope characterised "extreme poverty ... [as] perhaps the most pervasive and paralysing violation of human rights in our world." The implacable enemy of communism ended up criticising capitalism for its heartlessness and decadence. His papacy saw a leap forward in the Church's positive interactions with Jews, Muslims, and Hindus. He also went further than any previous Pope in apologising towards the end of his reign (through a startling gesture of public repentance at a Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Basilica) for the errors and misdeeds of the Church over the past 2000 years. He came out firmly on the side of the peoples of the less developed countries on the question of third world debt. He opposed United States intervention in Central America in the 1980s, the 1991 Gulf War, the 2003 invasion of Iraq, arms sales, and the arms race. In all this, he centre-staged human rights and values, linking them integrally with the Church's mission. For all these reasons, John Paul II's papacy will be an extraordinarily hard act to follow.

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