Blessed John Paul II

When a pope who is remembered vividly by millions of people is to be beatified, it is surely a newsworthy and uplifting moment.

Pope John Paul II was elected to the papacy in 1978, a dark horse among the cardinals eligible for that high office and 65 years of age. By the time of his death in 2005, he had become one of the world’s most influential leaders and a celebrity among peoples of all faiths and none. Some were already bestowing on him informally the title of Pope John Paul the Great.

Notwithstanding earnest calls for instant canonisation, the Church moved with caution. The standing rule is that no one can be presented as a candidate for sainthood until a period of at least five years after their death has elapsed. Yet the new pope, Benedict XVI, found himself confronted by a barrage of requests for Pope John Paul’s cause for canonisation not to be sidelined or abandoned but, rather, accelerated.

He relented and waived the five-year stipulation and the process gathered momentum from that moment to this.

In rejoicing with the entire Church on the beatification of the pope, who will soon be known as the Blessed Pope John Paul II, we consider the highlights of what led him to be so universally attractive.

One of his most admired attributes, which made people warm to him as a person, was his immense patience and tolerance of the Parkinsons disease that progressively afflicted him, robbing him of mobility and clarity of speech, yet not of his continuous ability to listen and to follow the happenings of the moment. As the faithful empathised with his pitiful physical state, they knew that his sharp mind was still that of the pope who had influenced so much of the history of the twentieth century. Futhermore, they witnessed in him the epitome of the Christian conviction that all suffering is salutary when purposefully united with Christs.

On the wider front, Pope John Paul was a world figure who could not be ignored. In his earlier days he came across as an energetic man of action, one who looked good in his white cassock and skullcap, and who knew what he wanted to do.

He influenced the demise of communism in Poland and the rest of Europe and did not hesitate to discuss world affairs with heads of state, confident that the Church had every right to present its case in the pursuit of international and national peace and justice.

He endeavoured to ensure that the Church’s relations with fellow Christians and members of other faiths would be ever cordial. He held far-reaching talks with Jews, Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Anglicans, Buddhists and many more. He travelled to more than 120 countries, including Southern Africa.

Aware that young people are the future of the Church, he inaugurated World Youth Day in 1984, a week-long celebration in which hundreds of thousands gather to worship with the pope and have fun as serious Christians on the move. His foresight here was remarkable and World Youth Day has not faded from popularity but will be held again this year in Madrid, Spain. Many of our own Southern African youth will attend.

Pope John Paul’s detractors have highlighted his perceived faults, commenting that he was autocratic, far too conservative and intent on canonising his own favourites and promoting his own devotions in the Church.

Whatever has been said or will be said of this amazing man, the truth cannot be suppressed that he possessed extraordinary virtues that will be an inspiration to many.