Random Thoughts on Popes, in general and John Paul II, specifically

Summer, 1967, Castel Gondolfo, Italy

This is where Popes spend parts of their summers. Thirty-eight years later, my memories of the several hours I spent here when I was 17 are like a pile of assorted snapshots. They’re out of order, some are smudged, others are fading, and many have lost all meaning. Here are a few of them:

Sellers of rosaries- they’re everywhere! Old men walk with outstretched arms draped in dozens of red, yellow, and green wooden, plastic, and glass rosaries. Artisans work laboriously at little tables with magnifying lenses and tiny hammers on silver ones, edged in mother-of-pearl. They respond to curious eyes with words in Italian which translate to something like “3 billion lira.” All of the rosaries on display today- on racks, around necks, hanging from arm after arm- were blessed by the Pope yesterday, and will be again today, in just a little while, so buy yours now!

It took a long time to get here, and the road north from Rome was part of the Apian Way, which various Caesars rode chariots in and out of town on. An old, old road, in other words, the history of which was lost (wasted) on me and my fellow 17-year-olds. We were riding over hills walked on by people like St. Peter and St. Paul, Nero, Augustus, Seneca, the Huns, Martin Luther, the Crusaders, and Mussolini, but we napped in the bus on the way there, too tired from the previous night to want to be connected, even if it was just visually, to boring subjects like World History.

Now, this is amazing. Young people, people my age (then), some even in their early twenties (!), are acting excited and loud, like they’re at a football game. They are standing in the plaza outside the window where the Pope will soon be making an appearance and they are cheering. “Papa! Papa! Viva l’Papa!” They are excited, jumping up and down, and..there are more! This group is Irish, or English, because they are hollering, almost singing: “Holy Father, we are here..” Others: “Pop, Pop, Pop” and “Padre Paulo! Padre Paulo!” There were even Africans that I couldn’t understand at all but who seemed to be more excited than anybody with their singing and clapping.

This memory is the most vivid one and has stayed sharp and clear for these many years. These were young people excited about something..religious! There was nothing fake about their enthusiasm, either. They had come from all over Europe to this place, just like the rest of us, to see a man appear in a window about 100 yards from where we were standing. Some were dancing in circles, some wore clothes which identified the country they were from, and each group had a distinctive look: dark, or blonde, or swarthy, or apple-cheeked. And all- this is what I remember best- all were focused and excited on seeing their Pope, the Vicar of Christ on earth!

I’d never experienced that kind of specific, shared desire to experience something divine.

I remember hoping then that I someday would.

Pope John Paul II

For many years to come, the story of John Paul’s involvement in the unraveling of Communism’s lock on Eastern Europe will become more and more evident. Just in the last two days since his death, we have heard about $32 Million being transferred from Vatican accounts to Solidarity, the Polish labor union, in 1981, at John Paul’s direction. From the very beginnings of his Papacy, there was demonstrated by him, a consistently affirming approach to the dignity with which humans were created in their Father’s image. And, as he demonstrated in his support of Solidarity, there was also a consistent stand against those political, cultural, and religious factors which denigrated human worth.

It’s amazing- flat-out and alarmingly amazing- that John Paul was the first Pope to ever visit a Jewish synagogue. It is equally amazing that he was also the first Pope to visit an Islamic mosque. It is to his great personal credit that he did both. He apologized- publicly, loudly, and eloquently- for mistakes of omission and commission that the Roman Catholic Church had made during times of the Medieval Crusades and during the 20th Century holocaust. John Paul was, probably more than any Christian leader that any of us will ever see or know, willing to admit personal and institutional sin and shortcoming so that dialogue and healing could begin. When accolades inevitably flowed toward him from the doing of such things, John Paul effectively and skillfully deflected those accolades and praises onto the Christ he represented in the world. Outwardly, he would grab his shepherd’s staff closely as a sign of his Savior’s nearness. Even more obvious to his fellow believers, however, was the humility with which he heard the kudos and applause of humans. You just knew that he knew who was the true recipient of that praise and honor.

There are many images of John Paul II that will be, for various individuals and nations, defining images. I think of his kissing the tarmac of the airport in Poland when he landed there in 1979 on the first of his 100+ trips as Pope. I remember the joy he displayed at the Youth Gatherings he not only encouraged, but attended. Almost everyone has recollections of his embracing children and disabled people.

No image speaks louder for me, however, to both the kind of man John Paul was and to the source of his actions, than his visit with and forgiveness of …. . …… was the man who, in July 1981, shot Pope John Paul at point-blank range. The Pope almost died and, indeed, never fully recovered from his wounds that day. But in …., the Pope went to the prison cell of …. spoke with him at length, and forgave him.
Nothing of human honor or accolade could accrue to the Pope from such an encounter. It was, therefore, not the kind of action we would ever see most other world leaders publicly involved in. But for John Paul, the opportunity was one of presenting- demonstrating- the gospel. John Paul was Jesus that day to …. and, thus, to many others around the world.

“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who’ve trespassed against us.” Most of us carry wounds from others that are far less severe than two bullets in the gut while refusing to proclaim unqualified forgiveness for the infliction of those wounds. Pope John Paul demonstrated to Christians of every brand and flavor that the gospel of Jesus Christ is real, profound, and liberating. He demonstrated that in his life and, in this last week, through his death. This is a better world for Karol Wolyetja having lived in it. And the Church is better for John Paul’s having been Pope over part of it.

God bless him.