Sunday, April 03, 2005
In mourning
Like Simon Titley I found the coverage of the last days of the Pope's life ghoulish. It is almost as if being a major public figure deprives you of the dignity and the privacy you should be entitled to during a terminal illness. For that reason I have tried to avoid watching the news in too much detail recently.
As somebody who was brought up as a Catholic but who moved away from the church for political and theological reasons, I have mixed feelings about the reign of Pope John Paul II. Now that he is dead we will move into a phase of mourning and reaction. But in the 24 hour news environment we live in, the once necessary delay before people start to evaluate and assess the way he conducted himself as Pontiff, will be reduced to nano-seconds.
Scanning through various sites tonight I found myself agreeing almost word for word with the assessment of Australian Democrat Senator, Andrew Bartlett, on his blog. He wrote:
Good points – opposing the oppression and major human rights abuses of communism; criticising the inequalities and exploitation of capitalism; speaking out against war and against poverty; supporting democracy (except within the Church); trying to build some bridges (or mend fences) with other religions; opposing capital punishment and supporting some human rights (e.g. refugees); OK on supporting the rights of workers.
Bad points – failing to meaningfully address sexual abuse by the Clergy; preventing a meaningful role for women in the wider Church as well as continuing to keep women out of the priesthood; opposing the use of contraception even to help tackle AIDS; continuing opposition to married priests; didn’t do enough to highlight the damage being inflicted on the environment/creation; reinforcing the continuing vilification of gays and lesbians by some Christians.
I would add one more to the bad points and that is the double standards that it somehow appeared he was applying in speaking out against human rights abuses under communism whilst publicly turning a blind eye to those in South America's 'Catholic' dictatorships.
We will now move into a seemingly endless news cycle encapsulating the funeral of this Pope and the election of his successor. I hope that whoever they choose will feel able to bring the Catholic Church into the twenty first century, particularly on issues like women priests, married clergy, sexual equality and contraception. A liberal voice in the Vatican would be a powerful driver for worldwide change and could do a great deal to bring social justice to so many people currently living under social, economic and political oppression.
As somebody who was brought up as a Catholic but who moved away from the church for political and theological reasons, I have mixed feelings about the reign of Pope John Paul II. Now that he is dead we will move into a phase of mourning and reaction. But in the 24 hour news environment we live in, the once necessary delay before people start to evaluate and assess the way he conducted himself as Pontiff, will be reduced to nano-seconds.
Scanning through various sites tonight I found myself agreeing almost word for word with the assessment of Australian Democrat Senator, Andrew Bartlett, on his blog. He wrote:
Good points – opposing the oppression and major human rights abuses of communism; criticising the inequalities and exploitation of capitalism; speaking out against war and against poverty; supporting democracy (except within the Church); trying to build some bridges (or mend fences) with other religions; opposing capital punishment and supporting some human rights (e.g. refugees); OK on supporting the rights of workers.
Bad points – failing to meaningfully address sexual abuse by the Clergy; preventing a meaningful role for women in the wider Church as well as continuing to keep women out of the priesthood; opposing the use of contraception even to help tackle AIDS; continuing opposition to married priests; didn’t do enough to highlight the damage being inflicted on the environment/creation; reinforcing the continuing vilification of gays and lesbians by some Christians.
I would add one more to the bad points and that is the double standards that it somehow appeared he was applying in speaking out against human rights abuses under communism whilst publicly turning a blind eye to those in South America's 'Catholic' dictatorships.
We will now move into a seemingly endless news cycle encapsulating the funeral of this Pope and the election of his successor. I hope that whoever they choose will feel able to bring the Catholic Church into the twenty first century, particularly on issues like women priests, married clergy, sexual equality and contraception. A liberal voice in the Vatican would be a powerful driver for worldwide change and could do a great deal to bring social justice to so many people currently living under social, economic and political oppression.
