FRANCE
La Croix International
June 4, 2020
By Christophe Henning
The long pontificate of John Paul II extended beyond 26 years (1978-2005) with great fanfare.Did the Polish pope think he was reviving the Catholic Church? Or did his forced march further weaken and divide it?
There is no dispute over whether John Paul made a deep impression on the Church. But the question is whether it was for better or for worse.
French authors Christine Pedotti and Anthony Favier have no doubt about the answer to that. In a new biography of Karol Woytila — Jean-Paul II: L’ombre du saint — they are uncompromising in their analysis of the damage he did as temporal head of the Catholic Church.
“The canonization of John Paul II marks the end of a long cycle in the history of Catholicism, that of dreaming for a return of power, which the Polish pontiff carried out from start to finish, ” they write in their 330-page book, currently available only in French.
The authors, who are both self-confessed Catholics of the left, look at 19 symbolic moments and thorny issues in the life of the late pope.They are searing in their criticism of the pontificate, brushing aside broader questions such as the liturgy, the priesthood, inter-religious dialogue, anti-communism and so forth.
“Re-clericalization”
Though there are some obvious things to condemn — such as the pontificate’s impunity of Marcial Maciel and its negligence in managing clergy sex abuse — it is nevertheless regrettable that Pedotti and Favier consider even Wojtyla’s accomplishments to have been wrong.
Just a few examples: his advancing inter-religious dialogue, shaping a new generation of Catholics through the World Youth Days, and elaborating the Church’s doctrine on life issues (which may offend some Catholics, remains a heritage that others have claimed).
It is hardly surprising that Pedotti, a Catholic feminist, would list John Paul’s greatest sin as promoting “re-clericalization of the Church” and “a supernatural view of the priesthood”.
This line of attack is engaged several times in the book, in particular when it speaks about the suffering pope.
“Here he is, playing Christ, ascending little by little to his Golgotha,” the authors write.”When a pope burdened with illness does not complain, who can say that the task is too heavy, the sacrifice too great?”
Persistent ambition
With little concern for governing the Rome Curia during the 26 years of his pontificate, John Paul II made his mark on the Church in the year 2000.
“In the doctrinal rearmament the pope was carrying out, there was no room for doubt. The truths of the catechism were firmly reasserted. Morality, especially concerning affectivity and sexuality, were firmly re-established. And there was no need to rethink the sacraments for the sake of mission,” the authors denounce.
In fact, from one subject to another, the book depicts a tenaciously ambitious Karol Wojtyła who ardently wanted a powerful, political and missionary Church, while it was an exhausted John Paul II who remained at the helm.This is the contradiction of a pope who was solitary and stubborn while the boat was taking on water, as his successor Benedict XVI said.
Pedotti and Favie also make much of the image of the elderly and feeble John Paul II pushing open the door of St. Peter’s Basilica to inaugurate the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000.
“Human weakness in the face of this massive door… Is it not a metaphor for the fragility of the Church?”
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