Centenary

The above is one of my favorite pictures of the late Saint Pope John Paul II, whose 100th birthday was marked on Monday. Born as Karol Wojtyla in Wadowice, Poland, he was elected to the papacy in 1978 after his predecessor, Pope John Paul I, died just 33 days after taking on the role. He served until his death in April of 2005.

John Paul was only 58 when he became pope, and many pictures of him during that time highlighted his high activity level -- see the pope ski! Or, if you were into making some jokes about his heritage, see the popeski ski! Those attributes seemed to be what people focused on at first, but as time moved on John Paul played an increasingly larger role in pushing back against communism in Eastern Europe, especially his homeland. In June 1979 he visited Poland with the agreement of its communist ruling officials, who believed they could demonstrate that though he might be the head of the church they were still in charge of the government. He defeated them utterly by agreeing with them and speaking to his fellow Polish Catholics as a pastor to his flock, urging them to stick together, not compromise the values they learned from their faith and look to God for guidance. He didn't call out the regime, speak against it or direct any resistance to it; he just showed that its leaders were ultimately irrelevant to what really mattered -- and because of his charisma, faith and the wild enthusiasm that Polish Catholics felt about one of their own leading the church, the people listened.

John Paul II never officially "teamed up" with the leaders of NATO and western countries that opposed communism and the USSR to defeat it, but as he continued to demonstrate its irrelevance while they showed its rotten core of bullying oppression, he helped create a two-pronged offensive that would bring down the Berlin Wall and the entire Soviet empire.

The reason I like the picture, taken later in his life as he suffered the effects of Parkinson's disease, is that for all of his earthly power as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, he did not stand unless he leaned upon the cross. I am not of the communion of Rome and I don't ascribe to Rome's bishop any authority other than earthly, save that which is granted any human being by the Holy Spirit to proclaim, through word and deed, the message of the gospel. Because he did so, and because he did so fearlessly and faithfully, great good happened in the world. The picture above just illustrates something I think he would have said himself -- that he could have done none of it had he not leaned upon his Savior for guidance and strength.

PS -- I also like the picture from 1999 when His Holiness tried on Bono's shades.