Pope John Paul II has died.

It would be hypocritical of me to unreservedly acclaim his achievements as Pope. His stance on women, homosexuals and active sexuality in the priesthood (unless it involves children) has missed an opportunity, I feel, to increase the relevance and respect for the Catholic church in the modern era. In addition, the lack of flexibility regarding contraception has condemned to death countless victims of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, the very region where Catholicism is growing most rapidly.

Having said all this, one can only admire the enthusiasm and energy with which he has spread his doctrine, and the Christian virtue he has exemplified in the way in which he conducted his life.

During his Papacy, he visited no less than 130 countries, a mission which was undoubtedly highly instrumental in the 40% increase in the Catholic global congregation. However, in the same period the numbers of practicing Catholics and priests in Europe has collapsed dramatically. In France for example, half of the current priesthood is expected to die within the next eight years, while only 150 priests completed their training as priests last year in the whole country. As older European priests die, many now have to be replaced by African or Asian pastors due to the insufficient numbers of young people entering the priesthood. It would seem that the future of Rome lies firmly in the developing regions of the world.

For me, however, perhaps the greatest memory I have of the Pope is the Christian compassion with which he treated his would-be assassin Mehmet Ali Agca. Even as the bullets took him down, the Pope made the sign of the cross in the direction of his would-be assassin. Upon his recovery, he visited Agca in prison to forgive him.



In contrast with so many of the activities of the American Christian Right, I can at least clearly identify the actions of the late Pope with the morality of the New Testament - a morality which is, as I understand it, centred around forgiveness, tolerance and understanding rather than bigotry, fear and revenge. In a world where the majority of peace-loving people are caught in the crossfire between two fundamentalist religious factions hellbent on inflicting violence on each other, a little more of such religious forgiveness, tolerance and understanding would surely not go amiss.