Respecting the Pope...

[danitapgh]

In his passing, I have come to respect Pope John Paul II. John Paul was a Pole in occupied Poland who had Jewish friends. Friends who went to the gas chamber. He did what he could do. Forged documents. Hid friends from the Nazis. He saw the Nazis burn the Jewish ghetto. After the war. After the communists took over Poland, he sewed of resistance

Comments

[grouchyoldcoot]

I have to say, I'm conflicted and confused about this guy. He was couragous, compassionate, and humble. He did all the things you describe, all the way through his life. And yet, on married clergy he was wrong. On women in the clergy he was wrong. On birth control, wrong. On HIV prevention, wrong. On clergy sex abuse, by all accounts oblivious. On homosexuality, wrong. On stem cell research, wrong. In all of these cases, he picked the traditional view over the 'culture of life' view. I just don't understand.

[danitapgh]

Of the things on which he was wrong, HIV prevention was the worst one. That just doesn't match with his philosophy of the "culture of life". I don't get it.

Coming in second, I think perpetuating the idea that homosexuality was immoral was pretty bad. He should have realized the enormous implications of the Catholic church declaring that a group of people were wrong. He should have realized how people would bend and twist that voice of authority to become anti-homosexual the way people became anti-semite when the Church declared that Judaism was wrong.

[cubacrazejim]

With alot of these things it seems he was trying to attempt the most good without really moving the church, as that is a damned near impossible thing to do. I have the feeling that alot of these issues are major problems for many youngish Catholics in this country (just my view from the ex-catholics I attended college with), but these are not as major concerns with large catholic populations in the rest of the world. One of the things that bugs me was his position on clerical activism in Central America, a no-no, given his history with Poland and eastern europe.

[danitapgh]

*sigh* my browser ate my last attempt to repsond to your post

[grouchyoldcoot]

It's certainly true that the Pope's conservative slant on issues like women in the clergy is better received in the developing world than in the West. I would have thought that more of a balance would be acceptable in both, though. I have to say that I think his stands on birth control came out of his lack of understanding about sex. If you don't want kids, then just *don't*.

Mother Theresa's stands are also interesting, in that it seems to me that she more cared for the sick than healed them, if you see the distinction I'm making. She also failed to support condom use to prevent HIV, which is pretty surprising for a woman who spent so much of her life caring for AIDS victims. I've always believed that she was just being obedient to the Pope- but to whom was the Pope being obedient?