John Paul II

I've been listening to news about the pope's accelerating decline with some melancholy and was quite sad when I heard of his passing yesterday. It's not like I am a good faithful Catholic following his edicts and, as a matter of fact, I do have differences of opinion on many thing he stood for. But really, the theological points are a moot issue for me. The man was a giant in so many different ways and his influence has affected countless people, and mostly in a very good way.

I was around 9 and still living in Prague when Karol Wojtyla he was elected pope. I remember being confused, since it seemed another pope had just been picked the other day. But I mostly remember the jubilation people around me expressed of having a Pope who was "one of us", a fellow Slav and someone who had experienced and understood the life behind the Iron Curtain.

As it turned out, the excitement and hopes laid in the Polish Pope were well founded. He helped the morale of people in the Eastern Block (both religious and not) and was a huge influence in Poland's move to peaceful independence, followed by other countries of the block, including Czechoslovakia.

I actually had the opportunity to see the pope a couple of times. The first time was in the early '80s when I was in Italy at a Czech Catholic summer camp. We visited Rome for a day and participated in a "general audience": basically watching the pope mobile drive through masses of visitors in the St. Peter's Dome plaza. The Pope actually walked for some of the way, greeting people that were pushing against the barricades. Our group was fairly close to the fence and I think I manage to touch the Pope's hand, but I do know that I got my hand kissed by some old lady thinking it was the Pontiff’s. It was a bit like a rock concert except without the moshing.

The second time I saw the Pope was during an altar boy trip to Rome in '84 sponsored by my church in Switzerland (and no, I don't have any scaring stories to report from my altar boy days). This time we actually got to be in St. Peter's Dome and saw John Paul II up close. I don't remember whether he celebrated Mass, but I do remember shaking his hand, as this old photo shows.

There are many things to admire about John Paul II, including expressing accountability and regret for the Church’s past mistakes, his drive for ecumenical openness and acceptance and his unambiguous and strongly expressed belief in human life and dignity. I guess the thing I admire the most about him was his unflinching championship for the poor and oppressed. As a liberal, there are plenty of things I do not agree with in Catholicism, but as a former Catholic, I am very proud of the fact that the church takes Matthew 25:31 to heart.

I hope that the church will select a worthy successor, though his shoes are mighty big to fill. I also hope that the dignitaries lauding the Pope as a "champion of peace, freedom and democracy" contemplate what that meant in his eyes.