“I hope to have communion with the people, that is the
most important thing.”
—Pope John Paul II, USA, 1979
The world mourns the passing of a great leader and humble servant
of God. My spiritual father, Pope John Paul II, has died. He
showed us how to live and die with courage and dignity.
From humble origins in Krakow, Poland, God called Karol Jozef
Wojtyla—little “Lolek” (his childhood nickname)—to
do great things. It is little wonder that people are calling
him “John Paul the Great.”
I saw the Holy Father three times during his visit to Britain
in 1982. At the end of October 2004, I experienced one of the
highlights of my life when I joined about 300 people including
lay Catholics, bishops, priests and religious in Pope Clemens
VIII Room at the Vatican for a special audience with the Holy
Father.
We had gathered together in Rome from 92 countries and 23 organisations
around the world to participate in the First World Congress
of Ecclesial Organisations Working for Justice and Peace in
the Catholic Church: Announcing the Gospel of Justice and Peace.
Archbishop Felix, St Lucia, and I represented the Caribbean.
The congress coincided with the publication of a Compendium
of the Social Doctrine of the Church. Inter alia, he told us:
“Dearest lay faithful, always work for justice and peace.”
As his mechanical chair passed by on the way out of the room,
many held their hands out to touch him and to shake his hands.
I held my hand out and he gripped it. He looked frail but there
was strength in his hand. His eyes reflected warmth, charisma
and wisdom.
I left the room knowing that I had been in the presence of a
great visionary leader, a man of intense spirituality, one of
the great shapers of history. Even seated in his chair he was
a towering figure. I marvel at his intellectual brilliance.
He was a prolific writer. His 14 encyclicals, letters and other
writings fill more than 150 volumes.
In December 2004, I was asked to represent the Holy See in Jamaica
at the UNAids Conference. In February 2005, I was humbled when
I received a Papal Medal for attending and reporting to Rome
on the conference. Since the medal bears the Holy Father’s
image, it now has even greater significance for me. I will cherish
it always.
He will continue to be an inspiration to 1.2 billion Catholics,
including me, and others around the world. In my work to promote
racial and social justice both here and in the UK, he has stood
like a faithful standard bearer pointing the way towards a better
humanity.
In a world that is falling short of ideals and losing its way
in terms of morals and values, he ensured that the Catholic
Church was unambiguous in its teachings. He was a rock in an
age of moral relativism and cultural decadence; an unbending
and fearless defender of the faith. He rejected totalitarian
ideologies and anything that smacked of injustice.
Pope Paul VI had said: “If you want peace, work for justice.”
Pope John Paul II was a tireless advocate and a moral voice
for justice and peace. As a man with a passion for truth he
was consistent with his message. This “champion of human
freedom and hero for the ages,” as President Bush called
him, made it clear that there can be no freedom if we do not
respect life from conception until natural death. He was a true
witness to human rights, to the dignity of the human person
and to justice, especially for the poor.
In the 1980s, I had heard him say during a visit to Poland that
there is no struggle more effective than solidarity. That statement
had lit a flame in me that will never be doused. He was a beacon
in the darkness of the culture of death.
That is why I stand in solidarity with those who wish to follow
his call to build a culture of life (see his encyclical, The
Gospel of Life (1995)—a rallying call for us to stand firm
to counter the culture of death that comes with abortion—which
he called “legitimised extermination,” euthanasia,
assisted-suicide, war, contraception, the death penalty etc).
He constantly called for a fairer sharing of the world’s
wealth/resources and for the creation of conditions that will
allow life to flourish. He called for disarmament and for the
elimination of all weapons. How hard he tried to prevent the
war in Iraq but God does not ask us to be successful—only
to be faithful. His view was that hardly any war can be justified
today. He combined the service of faith and the promotion of
justice.
He has left the church and the world stronger and richer. He
will be remembered also for the instrumental role he played
in the defeat of communism in eastern Europe and for his call
to a new evangelisation which he hoped would energise the church
in its witness to what he called “the splendour of truth.”
As a pilgrim pope, he showed us the way during his 129 visits
to various countries around the world. He carried the message
of the gospel and made faith come alive with vibrancy and energy
by taking it to the people. He urged Christians to bring their
faith into the market place/world and let it influence their
daily lives. He renewed the faith of many young Catholics in
their church. Indeed, he had a special relationship with youth—as
was evidenced by their outpouring of love for him during, eg,
World Youth Days.
While he looked through the lens of his own faith, part of his
legacy is his attempts to find common ground that exists between
Catholics and other religions. He did not diminish the differences.
His view was that in the context of love and respect for each
other’s religious beliefs, good things can happen.
He was a man who understood what his place in the world was
and his relationship with God. He made me proud to be Catholic.
In 1982, on the first anniversary of the assassination attempt
on his life, he said: “In the designs of Providence there
are no mere coincidences.”
It was no coincidence that God chose John Paul II, the tireless
evangelist, to challenge our recalcitrant world to join him
in “crossing the threshold of hope.” I am deeply grateful
to God for giving him to us and for his lifelong leadership.
May he rest in peace.
I recall his words of encouragement as he urged Catholics to
live their faith: “Do not be afraid. God is with us. He
will help us. Trust Him.”
Soon a new pope will be chosen. Catholics face this moment
with great hope because we know that, as Archbishop Edward
Gilbert has said, “the Holy Spirit has already chosen
his successor.”
