I could write a 10,000 word essay on how absolutely mistaken the worldview behind this piece is starting with "For the better part of three plus decades the Catholic Church was known in part as a faith community led by the charismatic figures of John Paul II and his deputy, Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger)" Haven't we forgotten somebody here? I think his initials start with J or something like that...
The only thing that eclipses the legacy of John Paul II is well... the legacy of John Paul II. The so called 'forceful diplomacy' of JP2's early papacy (after the Berlin Wall came down all of it fell apart if we remember correctly since his papacy was largely impotent during the '90s and the immediate post 9/11 period) was as much a product of the fact that he had born in Poland as anything else which put him in a unique position to be courted by the United States in its effort to dismantle the Soviet backed regimes of Eastern Europe. If he had been born in Argentina like the current Pontiff, whatever personal ability he possessed or didn't possess, none of that would have happened.
In addition if he was able to conduct 'forceful diplomacy' it was only because the 1980s were the last time the Catholic clergy and the Papacy still possessed even a shred of moral authority, and that was completely destroyed by the fact that our supposed 'hero' failed to do anything whatsoever about the sex abuse scandals during his nearly THREE DECADES in power including promoting Theodore McCarrick to the cardinalate. I could go on and on and on but then this comment would be longer than the article.
So I will close with this: Everyone has flaws and everyone lives under constraints. If I had been in JP2's place maybe I wouldn't have done any better, though I hope to God I never kiss a Quran, so this is less about him than about the ridiculous and quasi idolatrous hero worship still being directed at the guy twenty years later. The Church needs to let him go and get on with her life.
I could write a 10,000 word essay on how absolutely mistaken the worldview behind this piece is starting with "For the better part of three plus decades the Catholic Church was known in part as a faith community led by the charismatic figures of John Paul II and his deputy, Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger)" Haven't we forgotten somebody here? I think his initials start with J or something like that...
The only thing that eclipses the legacy of John Paul II is well... the legacy of John Paul II. The so called 'forceful diplomacy' of JP2's early papacy (after the Berlin Wall came down all of it fell apart if we remember correctly since his papacy was largely impotent during the '90s and the immediate post 9/11 period) was as much a product of the fact that he had born in Poland as anything else which put him in a unique position to be courted by the United States in its effort to dismantle the Soviet backed regimes of Eastern Europe. If he had been born in Argentina like the current Pontiff, whatever personal ability he possessed or didn't possess, none of that would have happened.
In addition if he was able to conduct 'forceful diplomacy' it was only because the 1980s were the last time the Catholic clergy and the Papacy still possessed even a shred of moral authority, and that was completely destroyed by the fact that our supposed 'hero' failed to do anything whatsoever about the sex abuse scandals during his nearly THREE DECADES in power including promoting Theodore McCarrick to the cardinalate. I could go on and on and on but then this comment would be longer than the article.
So I will close with this: Everyone has flaws and everyone lives under constraints. If I had been in JP2's place maybe I wouldn't have done any better, though I hope to God I never kiss a Quran, so this is less about him than about the ridiculous and quasi idolatrous hero worship still being directed at the guy twenty years later. The Church needs to let him go and get on with her life.