How Predictable

Forgive the Catholic boy's attention to the Pope.  Here's more.  As noted by Powerline, the New York Times is finding it easy to criticize John Paul II, but has to search for someone to defend him. The Rapid City Journal picks up an AP report that can find little good to say about a holy man, but can reduce him, as I suggested below, to just another conservative politician. 

John Paul's Polish roots nourished a doctrinal conservatism -- opposition to contraception, abortion, women priests -- that rankled liberal Catholics in the United States and western Europe.

The 264th pope battled what he called a "culture of death" in modern society. It made him a hero to those who saw him as their rock in a degenerating world, and a foe to those who felt he was holding back social enlightenment.

"The church cannot be an association of freethinkers," John Paul said.

However, a sex abuse scandal among clergy plunged his church into moral crisis. He summoned U.S. cardinals to the Vatican and told them: "The abuse which has caused this crisis is by every standard wrong and rightly considered a crime by society; it is also an appalling sin in the eyes of God." Critics accused the pope of not acting swiftly enough.

Other critics said that while the pope championed the world's poor, he was not consistent when he rebuked Latin American priests who sought to involve the church politically through the doctrine of "liberation theology."

Again, was the Pope a doctrinal conservative? Or was he a witness to truth? It would be easy to give into the spirit of the age, but that isn’t the Church’s role. Notice how the report has him battling a “culture of death,” rather than defending a culture of life. The Pope is portrayed as just another guy standing in the way of progress rather than someone with a positive alternative. And what to say about “liberation theology.” Yes, the Pope was opposed to theologies that borrow as much from Marx as from the Gospel and turn the Gospel and the Church into tools of political activism. Liberation theology tends to turn Jesus into a political activist, rather than a witness to conversion. 

Anyone interested in a more useful discussion of the Pope’s legacy might turn to this bit by George Weigel at NRO. I am glad to see NBC is using Weigel as one of their JP II experts. 

Here is the difference between the world and the Church. On one of the networks (I forget which one now), they were talking about what kind of man might be the next pope. One of the experts said things like the next pope should be charismatic like JP II, but maybe a better bureaucrat. They might also pick an older man so he won’t serve as long as JP II.  They might look to where the Church is growing (Latin America or Africa) rather than were it is stagnant (Europe). There was one characteristic the expert failed to mentionas he concerned himself with political questions. Maybe the primary consideration of the Cardinals should be picking a man who is holy and a witness for Christ? Just a thought.