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A revolutionary papacy
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Also by Mark Baumgardner:
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“And so I say to you, ‘you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.’” — Matthew 16:18
While on this earth, Jesus Christ established his church with Peter as the foundation and first pope. Since the time of Christ, the Catholic Church has seen 263 successors to Saint Peter. Among them, Karol Wojtyla, who became Pope John Paul II on October 16, 1978, will be remembered as one of the greatest. On Saturday, Pope John Paul passed away, but his works and legacy will live on for ages to come.
His death occurred just weeks after what is probably the second most significant death to occur this year in the Catholic Church. At the age of 97, Sister Lucia became the last of Fatima’s visionaries to pass. The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Lucia and her two cousins Francisco and Jacinta in Fatima, Portugal, May 13, 1917, asking them to visit her in the same place on the 13th day of each month for the next six months. Sr. Lucia died last February on, perhaps not coincidentally, the 13th day.
The revelations of Fatima carried a great deal of significance for the entire world, the Catholic Church and Pope John Paul’s papacy in particular. In writing Sr. Lucia’s obituary, The Wanderer (a weekly Catholic newspaper) summarized the warnings and requests of Mary at Fatima. She warned of a worse war (World War II) and that Russia would fall to communism and spread its evils. She requested increased devotion and the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart.
The Virgin promised, “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.”
Pope John Paul certainly played a key role in defeating communism. Lech Walesa, founder of the Solidarity movement in Poland spoke to the Associated Press last Friday, recalling the Pope’s visit to Warsaw in 1979 and how he ended Mass with a prayer that the Holy Spirit may “renew the face of the earth.”
Walesa stated, “We know what the pope has achieved. Fifty percent of the collapse of communism is his doing. … [A]fter he spoke these words, we were able to organize 10 million people for strikes, protests and negotiations.” Undoubtedly, the symbolism of a Polish priest rising up and becoming pope despite the repression of communism had significance by itself.
In the midst of his struggles against communism, Pope John Paul survived an assassination attempt on May 13, 1981 — exactly 64 years after the first appearance at Fatima. He forgave his shooter, even later visiting him in prison.
Overall, Pope John Paul has worked to increase Marian devotion throughout the Church. In October 2002, he announced a Year of the Rosary and introduced the Luminous Mysteries — five mysteries “of light” in Christ’s life that Catholics now meditate on while praying the rosary on Thursdays.
In his book “What went wrong with Vatican II: the Catholic crisis explained,” Ralph M. McInerny wrote of another vision of the Fatima children, “Jacinta … once said, ‘I can’t say how, but I saw the Holy Father in a very large house, kneeling before a table with his face in his hands. He was crying. Many people were in front of the house; some were throwing stones, while others were cursing him and using foul language.’ Has anyone described better the beleaguered state of the Papacy and the Magisterium of the Church since Vatican II?”
Pope John Paul inherited a Church plagued with dissent on top of the attacks from the cultural movements in America and Western Europe. Secularists and dissenters attacked the Church for its teachings on human sexuality. Like Pope Paul VI who reaffirmed the Church’s condemnation to artificial contraception in “Humanae Vitae,” Pope John Paul understood that the Church’s teachings on such matters were God’s law and not his to change.
Yesterday, Father Robert Altier, at his parish in St. Paul, Minnesota, preached, “God always raises saints to be able to defend the areas that Satan is attacking. As I have told you many, many times, the area of attack today is on marriage and the family. In the official teaching of the Church, there are approximately 6,000 pages written about marriage in over 2,000 years. Three thousand of those pages were written by Pope John Paul II, the saint that God raised up to be able to defend the area Satan was attacking.”
Beyond his writing, Pope John Paul journeyed over 100 times to various parts of the world, transcending cultural barriers and communicating in 26 languages and dialects. He had a special connection to the youth. Here in America, nearly 200,000 young Catholics, I among them, traveled to see him in his 1993 Denver World Youth Day event.
One of the most commonly used images in the Church is the shepherd. Throughout his papacy, Pope John Paul led his flock like a good shepherd through his words, and more importantly, his example — even as he endured pain and suffering at the sunset of his life. Catholics around the world should pray in thanksgiving for Pope John Paul II and ask God to inspire us to follow his example.
Mark A. Baumgardner (mbaumgardner@wisc.edu) is a senior majoring in electrical engineering.
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Holy crap, you've got to be stupid to believe that the Virgin Mary is appearing and re-appearing.
Wait, nevermind! I just saw the Virgin Mary in my cum stain!
usually I agree with mark, but being a protestant... this is one article I cant. I repsect your commitment to catholocisism, but "the rock" on which the church was built was jesus, not peter...
The first poster is a moron.
"The first poster is a moron."
I disagree. I thought the first poster was being thoughtful, creative and objective and that his comment was sufficiently relative to the topic.
Also: Mark, you have an incredibly sexy ass! Please include a picture of it in your next column so everyone can see it. HUNKA HUNKA HUNKA!!!!
The second poster is correct: Peter was never a pope. That's part of the Roman Catholic church's rewriting of history to create a false foundation for its legitimacy.
Let us see who the Whore of Babylon selects as its next leader.
"holy crap you have to be stupid..."
and I see things in my cum stain...
These comments are truly creative, thoughtful and objective. That is if your IQ is roughly 75.
"Areas that Satan is attacking" might help prevent the spread of AIDS and overpopulation in places like sub Saharan Africa...a hellish thought indeed.
Thanks for pointing out that the Pope was unequivocally opposed to your dear leader's war-mongering in the Middle East. So, if we're going to fetishize the dearly departed, let's at least do it in an honest, level way. He wasn't any sort of bitch of the Republican party. Sure, he hates gays and women like y'all, but he also opposes war and poverty like us. So, he's half ours, too!
Its not that republicans dont oppose poverty... its that we dont necessarily think that taxing the crap out of people with money and redistributing wealth is the way to solve the problem... welfare isnt gonna do shit to solve poverty... and those sort of programs should be left to private organizations funded by donations.
I was fortunate enough to be in Rome in the summer of 2003 and had a couple of opportunities to see the Holy Father. He gave a private audience for the group of which I was a part. There were several thousand people in the receiving hall, and at the end of his greeting (which he gave in the language of each group represented) he had a receiving line. After the cardinals, bishops, and Church prelates, he received nuns and lay people. A little girl approached the Holy Father, and rather than kneel, hold his hand, and kiss his ring, she reached over and kissed him on the cheek. As she was about to withdraw, he embraced her, and returned the kiss. It was the most touching thing I have ever seen. There is something very poignant about an elderly man who so captivates children and is in return so captivated by them.
"Why do you search for the living among the dead? He is not here..." (Luke 24:5.6).
We love you, Holy Father, and we know where to look for you.
It's two days later. I can't tell people what to do, but in ways that are deeply personal and private to more than 1 billion people, this man meant something. He was/is a symbol of faith and a human connection to God. Cum stain blasts can be funny, but it may hurt some who actually hold faith in high regard. Shocking comments aren't going to change anyone's mind. Politicizing his life through USA policies is selfish. I heard a quote this weekend about his relationship with Bush's White House, "He was politically unpredictable because he was morally consistent." Either side can run with that one. The Holy Father will be missed by Catholics and many citizens of the world. Why does this behavior have to continue to disappoint. Clever is good. Some of these comments aren't clever.
Matthew 16:13-19
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
The rock the church is built upon is Peter's confession of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. It's not built on a Pope. It's not built on Mary. Surely the Pope was a great man and a great religious leader, but he was just a man.
I'm waiting for the offensive comments from someone who writes for the Nation or the Progressive.
He was a great man and a mixed bag, like most of us...wait...ASM, no one's a mixed bag there. Maybe someone from that crew should be the next Pope.
re: Mary
"There are many perks to being the mother of a living god."
From a Secular standpoint, I'll miss the guy. Especially if the cardinals elect a more conservative, hard-line pope. When someone as high up as the pope finds the dignity to apologize for MASSIVE past failings of his church (Galileo and Holocaust apologies) despite the dogma he is supposed to rule by, that is a man I can respect. I don't agree with most Catholic ideas, but I can respect simple human dignity and integrity in solitary cases.
I just wish Mark and those who think like him would stop calling the methods I and mine use to make the world a better place acts influenced by Satan.
That's more Fred Phelps than Jesus Christ.
-William Northend
"There are many perks to being the mother of a living god."
Ah, yes. Nothing like a good quote from Ghostbusters II.
"That is if your IQ is roughly 75."
Actually, my IQ is 122. Smart people have a sex life too.
Wait, 122 is smart? Nope, just in the average range.
JPII was just what the Church needed at a critical period in history. He moved forward without sacrificing the heart and soul of the Church's core historical beliefs. I pray that the Conclave does him justice by selecting someone with an equally energetic and balanced outlook.
BJV
Actually, 122 is considerably above average. That simply means he has the ability to be intelligent, not that he acts that way.