John Rapley
"JOHN PAUL the Great," his admirers are already calling him. That may be hyperbole, or just the emotion bred of loss. But if the mark of greatness is to permanently alter the course of world history, the moniker may be apt.
Few can doubt that the long reign of John Paul II atop the Roman Catholic Church was filled with drama. Coming from Poland, he began his papacy as an outsider in an institution long dominated by Italians. His choice of the name John Paul II suggested that he would carry on the legacy of his most recent predecessors on the throne he inherited.
Nevertheless, he very quickly put his own stamp on the papacy. No sooner had he assumed his position as bishop of Rome that he brought the Vatican to the world. He travelled tirelessly, bringing his message into villages and fishing communities in far corners of the globe.
In his journeying, he demonstrated a grasp of modern mass media that few of his gen-eration could equal. Some greeted this 'rock-star' pope with cynicism, finding his telegenic manipulation unseemly. But it was effective at building bridges between the pope and ordinary Catholics not to mention his many admirers of other faiths.
WESTERN SOCIETIES
His critics in the church, and particularly in Western societies, would complain that John Paul II would subsequently abuse this authority to impose his views on what remains a highly diverse flock. Whereas the Roman Catholic Church is essentially a decentralised institution, with authority vested in its plethora of bishops, John Paul was not averse to going over their heads to communicate directly with the faithful. In so doing, the Vatican was sometimes able to effectively pressure bishops to toe its line.
Nor was he averse to using what powers the Vatican retained to maximum effect. Although the Vatican bureaucracy is relatively tiny one American journalist has likened it to 500 civil servants running the U.S.A. its ability to name bishops and cardinals meant that John Paul II could gradually fill dioceses with his supporters.
Very often, these men were theological conservatives who shared John Paul's antipathy to birth control, abortion, married priests and ordained women. Thus in the West, John Paul II was often seen as a hidebound conservative, someone who was trying to resist an irresistible tide of change.
Yet his doctrine was too complex to be adequately captured by labels like 'conservative' or 'liberal'. For on social issues, he could be strikingly progressive. Though he decried the marriage of Catholic teaching and Marxism called liberation theology for its absence of spirituality, he shared its hostility to unfettered capitalism. In fact, his blend of theological conservatism and economic progressivism endeared him to Catholics in developing countries. One could say he was the first Third-World pope.
Arguably, when he looked at the landscape of global Catholicism, John Paul II judged that the future lay in the poor countries. In the rich ones, in North America and especially Europe, which for nearly twenty centuries had been the heartland of Christianity, the church was beset by declining numbers and scandals. The landscape was comparatively barren.
THIRD-WORLD POPE
So why did this Third-World pope reinforce peculiarly European practices and teachings, such as unmarried clergy? It may be that before stepping aboard the ship that would take the Catholic Church to new shores, forever leaving behind the lands that had housed it for nearly 2,000 years, John Paul II wanted to ensure that some of the most cherished family-silver would be on board for the ride. Firmly rooted in tradition, he also seemed eager to race into the future.
How much of his legacy survives his passing remains to be seen. But in one respect the shifting focus towards the developing world John Paul's mark is already apparent. When he became pope, it was considered bold to name a non-Italian. Still, nearby Poland was as far as the cardinals would venture back in 1978.
Today, in contrast, it seems almost ordinary that several Latin American and African cardinals are considered serious candidates for the papacy. Whether or not one is chosen by this conclave, it is clear that in the near future, the Roman Catholic Church will be selecting many more Third-World popes.
John Rapley is a senior lecturer in the Department of Government, UWI, Mona.
