In early 2002 I was among a network of religious folk who tried to persuade the Vatican that the pope should address the United Nations and meet American religious leaders in order to express publicly and dramatically his evidently strong opposition to the planned war in Iraq.
No act by anyone would better have galvanized efforts by people of every religious and ethical tradition to prevent the war. By it, the pope could have played in America the kind of role that he had played in Poland.
Also in the openDemocracy debate on the Catholic church and democracy, articles by Neal Ascherson, Lavinia Byrne, Laura Greenhalgh, Ariel Dorfman, Timothy Radcliffe, and Michael Walsh.
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But he, and the Vatican, did not take that step. When he faced the Soviet Union, John Paul II proved the stupidity of Stalin’s old challenge: “how many divisions does the pope have?" But not when he faced the United States.
Why?
To answer that question, we need to ask another: the one Pope John Paul II himself posed as the overriding issue of the century: how should the Catholic church deal with modernity – in both its capitalist and communist variants?
All the religious traditions on our planet have been upended by modernity. The modern project has brought into human hands enormous powers over the earth and the human future that once were beyond us – for example, to wipe out life on earth, create new species, overthrow tyrants, have sex without children, have children without sex.
There have been three major responses of the religious communities to this wave of expanded control: surrender, restoration, and renewal.
First, surrender. Modernity brings more human weal than the old traditions; so we keep only shreds of the old patterns – maybe one or two festivals a year, maybe marriage, probably death rituals, but little else. The domain of religion dramatically shrinks.
Second, restoration. The whole modern project is disgusting and destructive, from the H-bomb to the shattering of families and neighbourhoods. Try, then, to return to the 17th century, or as close as possible; put women, the earth, and other traditions back in their place.
Third, renewal. Some important aspects of modernity are destructive, others are new forms of holiness. Instead of being swallowed up by modernity or vomiting it out, taste it with care, digest what is sacred, eliminate what is disastrous. Among the new forms of sacred practice are the equality of women and recognition of profound holy wisdom in traditions other than one’s own.
John Paul II resisted surrender. Towards other religious communities, he pursued the renewal path. That is why many Jews have been grateful to him, and why Arab television carried the news of his death with such respect. But in relation to the role of women and issues involving sexuality he made every effort to restore the past.
His opposition to women or married men as priests and his failure to move swiftly and vigorously to squelch those powerful prelates who had tolerated sexual abuse of children by priests debilitated his church. His opposition to abortion and to most forms of contraception overrode his respect for other life-paths. His actions in these areas affronted the moral dignity of women and the world’s efforts to avoid over-population and achieve an ecological balance.
This is an edited version of an article published on the Shalom Center website.
The overwhelming domination of the College of Cardinals by men appointed by Pope John Paul II makes the renewal of the church on issues involving sexuality and women unrealistic. Perhaps there is more hope when it comes to issues that the late pope raised even if he did not carry them into the teeth of the George W Bush administration: globalized corporate capitalism, “oiloholic” addiction and its threat to scorch the planet, and the tendency of the present United States government and of some elements of the Muslim world to ignite a shattering war between the US and all Islam.
The cardinals may see these questions as more urgent and consequential than their desire to put women and sex back in their subordinate places. In any case, the wider Catholic church must choose between restoration and renewal. As the cardinals meet, sealed off for the moment from our planetary earthquakes, let us pray.
