The Importance of the Pope in the 21st Century UPDATE
Following is a post that is just a draft so far. I'm not entirely sure exactly what I want to do with it, but from the start you should get a rough idea of my general goal. When I make changes or additions I'll color code them by day so you (i.e., no one reads this stuff anyway) can get an idea of some of my thought processes. Rather than have everyone jump back and forth to the original, I'll just post the updates as I make them.
Let me preface this post with the comment that even though I am not a Catholic, I hold great respect for the importance of the Papacy and its current leader. Like any institution that has existed for much of recorded history, well nigh a millennium, the passage of time notes actions and events surrounding it through the passage of time that range from the indefensible to the indispensable. Perhaps in part for the this disparate nature of reality in the Church’s history, the lends an importance of to the Papacy that is greater than ever to adherents and non-adherents alike. Direct influence over everyday life has diminished, but there remain sufficient followers and general respect for the institution that the Church can influence social and political trends in nations where it has little presence. Who can deny the role of the Pope in the fall of the
“In 1994, as age and infirmity began to incapacitate John Paul publicly, he told his followers he had heard God and was about to change the way he led the church. ‘I must lead her with suffering,’ he said” (Newsweek Online Edition – Feb. 28).
It is odd to many that God’s love and suffering go together. Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ (2004) reminded us of this dichotomy brilliantly and brutally. People easily forget that the world is no longer the perfect place that was given to Adam and Eve. As such our bodies are as imperfect as our environment and we have been given the responsibility to care for ourselves. This is both a punishment for that original sin and an opportunity for us to show how well we can follow His Word.
And so John Paul II suffers maladies both painful and degrading. His strength during these times is his attachment to the sanctity of life and his willingness to bear the burdens imposed from without so that we can learn by his example. As the world examines itself in light of John Paul II’s most recent illness, “The spectacle of his condition crystallizes his ferocious attachment to life — the most central, coherent and consistent teaching of his papacy — whether that life is threatened in the womb by abortion, or in old age by euthanasia” (ibid).
Discipleship in the Lord is, if I might be permitted to use the word, evolutionary. One’s role changes as experience is gained, situations change, or faith waxes and wanes. As Pope, John Paul II wields a different influence than in his days prior to 1978 when he was simply Cardinal Karol Wojtyla or still more simply the neighborhood priest in [Krakow, Poland] before then. The inflection of a disciple’s ministry fluxuates
