Revolutionary Pope.
Finally, as expected, the Papacy of Pope John Paul II came to an end and in his death a gigantic and Himalayan personality of this planet bade adieu to all of us. His Papacy was linked with revolutionary ideas and challenging decisions of course for the good of the society as a whole and in particular of the weaker segments of humanity irrespective of their faith. Soviet Russia a mighty atomic super power had one dirty habit of interfering militarily in the internal affairs of other sovereign countries. They did this in Hungary & Afghanistan. Similarly, Breznhev had an ambition to send troops to Poland too and lord over it militarily. The moment this news leaked to Vatican, Pope John Paul II issued a stern verbal warning to Soviet Russia saying “ if a single soldier of yours steps his foot on to my native land Poland, I will leave Vatican and go to my native land and defend it with all my might”. This verbal warning was just enough for the mighty super power Soviet Russia to condescend and eat a humble pie. Pope did not have atomic and hydrogen weapons but his moral authority and influence all over the world was enough to silence the atomic and hydrogen might of Soviet Russia. Vatican is not a super power compared to Soviet Russia but in reality it proved to be the real super power and currently it is much powerful than the existing super power. This is the power of Papacy and Vatican.
During his first visit to India, he came to my native place Goa when Konkani language agitation was going on. Overwhelming agitationists were Catholics – Christians and overwhelming majority of Hindus were against this agitation, which was nothing but a just agitation for the just cause. In order to show his solidarity with the agitationists for their just cause and also to identify himself with the locals by speaking the local language which is Konkani and not Marathi as it was wrongly disclosed by the Marathi protagonists, the Pope by learning a few words in Konkani started the Holy Mass at Campal Ground in Konkani and gave a big booster for the Konkani language. This act of Pope was a big challenge to Marathivadis in Goa. By this act the Pope proved to everyone that it is nothing but only and ONLY Konkani is the real language of real Goans though adopted Goans were clamouring for imposing Marathi on Goa. During his second visit to India, the BJP and its followers tried their best to defame Papacy and Catholicism in particular and Christianity in general but here again the Pope challenged them all and in Delhi he made an open statement saying that “this millennium will be the millennium of evangelization”. As a amtter of fact Christianity is the only solution for the down trodden of India to gain access to human dignity which is destroyed beyond reparation by the religiously backed caste system. For this reason the great Indian patriot Ambedkar revolted against Hinduism and along with him innumerable followers of his low caste embraced Buddhism. He would have embraced Christianity but he failed to recognize the true meaning of Christianity because he analysed only one side of Christianity, which was wrongly projected by the fake Christians.
Pope Paul while championing the cause of Christian doctrine also championed in true spirit of Christ’s teachings the causes of poor people all around the world, suppressed labour force and many more causes. He spoke against abortion because he gave highest priority for the human life. He desliked concubinage committed by married men against the marriage vow thereby cheating their legally wedded wives. Infidelity is the curse a married couple can face. His interaction with people and leaders of other faiths was a great achievement of his Papacy. His earlier predecessor Pope Paul VI when he came to India for Eucharistic Congress in Bombay also played the same type of role when he had a meeting with leaders of different religions. By interacting with other faiths and entering into the places of their worships he showed genuine brotherhood. He never called people of other faiths as “kefirs” and infidels because nobody gave him that power to judge others. His power of forgiveness was immense as it was noticed in his meeting with the person who tried to kill him. So also his great heartedness of owning faults of the excesses the Church had committed earlier as it was shown by his apologies. His love for this tiny country Kuwait was magnificent and it was during his Papacy that the diplomatic relations between Vatican and Kuwait got a booster. When Saddam Hussain’s Iraq invaded Kuwait, he was grieved a lot and openly declared his opposition to this invasion. When under the leadership of USA the war for the liberation of Kuwait started he gave his nod because he knew that justice for Kuwait would come only thru that war of liberation for Kuwait. Ironically, some of the very people and leaders who used to treat Kuwaitis as their brothers in race, religion, history and tradition opposed this war of liberation of Kuwait. Incidentally, the Sunni Muslim Arab country Kuwait invaded by Sunni Muslim Arab Saddam Hussein and his gang was finally liberated by the non-Arab, non-Muslim Christian West. However, the same Pope when the USA waged a war against the destruction of Saddam and the liberation of Iraqi people, he opposed it. This shows the high ideals of the Pope. Though he did not like the priests to participate actively in the political affairs in their countries yet he himself played a stellar role in political affairs of the world. When Ferdinand Marcus acted stubborn in Philippines and Cardinal Sin in Manila decided to uproot Marcus from the presidency, Pope Kohn Paul II gave Cardinal Sin go ahead signal. A man of diverse attributes will be no more on this planet to play an important role in world affairs. He applied his leadership not only for the cause of Catholics and Christians but also for the cause of entire humanity. His voice had great impact all over the world. That his voice had such a powerful impact and influence was seen in the flood of countless people visiting Vatican to pay their last respect for the departed soul. These countless visitors among whom were Kings and Queens, Presidents and Premiers and other heads of the States came uninvited on their own freewill to show their respect, love, affection and obedience to the departed soul of the Holy Father. The publicity that his death and funeral received all around the world itself is a testimony of the importance and greatness of this great Pope. That the leader of my faith had such a powerful influence has brought tears into my eyes, of course out of joy for having such an important leader. Without his help communism would never collapse, it was he who was partly responsible for the demolition of communism in Russia and Eastern Europe as he found in this system nothing but dictatorship and bondage of human attributes.
The task for his successor to fit into his mould will be very difficult and precisely because of this boulder the selection of the new Pope will be very difficult. The new Pope will not only have to be a holy man to lead his Catholic followers but he has to be a man of World affairs too. He will have to be a great statesman also and he should be capable of having qualities of wielding influence all around the world. Besides, the new Pope must have the attributes of identifying himself with lowliest and humblest. Will we ever get such a Pope again? I doubt because such a person comes to this planet once in centuries. May his soul rest in peace.
A. Veronica Fernandes, Kuwait.
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