"Uh, this is William F. Buckley, uh....I've been taking peyote all morning and, uh....welcome to the home version of 'Crossfire.'"
Posted on 02/11/2005 10:28:25 AM PST by Rutles4Ever
The seizure brought on by his dramatic trip to the hospital a week ago suggests the international sense of his indispensability. Pope John Paul (news - web sites) is a graphic figure in the lives of Catholics and many non-Catholics. He is, of course, a towering theological figure who has presided over the development of Catholic thought and practice for the 26 years of his papacy. He is a major historical figure, who began as a Catholic seminarian in a Poland subservient first to a Nazi overlord (they hanged him in Nuremberg), then to a communist overlord (nothing happened to him -- the communists are never prosecuted). From that scene he succeeded to the Holy See, where he was the symbol of hope and, after the communists fell, of triumph, distinctive in his bid for international recognition as a God-fearing man of good will.
I remember him as he was leaving Havana to return to Rome. Fidel Castro (news - web sites) was there to recite the diplomatic amenities. The pope was standing on the gangway of his airplane and suddenly rain fell. As John Paul spoke under an improvised parasol, his three-minute farewell address evolved, in near-perfect Spanish, into a homily on water's purifying mission. All of Cuba watched on television, no doubt hoping, for an exhilarating moment, that Castro would melt away, Cuba shriven from the antipodal reign of a tyrant who came to power even before the pope did, and will outlast him.
Unless it were to happen that Castro died tomorrow, and the pope a week later; but we must see through the blur of the rain to realities of the day, which are that the pope almost died the day that he was taken to the hospital. "We got him by a breath," one medico leaked the news, and another said, "If he had come in 10 minutes later, he would have been gone."
The temptation is, always, to pray for the continuation of the life of anyone who wants to keep on living. The pope is one of these. In the past, he recorded that he did not plan ever to abdicate, that he would die on the papal throne. It is presumptuous, in thinking about John Paul, to suppose that in arriving at that decision he was motivated by vainglory. What exactly he had in mind we do not know, but can reasonably assume that he was asserting pride in physical fortitude, consistent with his days as a mountain climber and a skier. Perhaps there is an element of vanity there. Not many sovereigns leave the throne, except at the hands of embalmers.
There is the further question, distinctive to the throne of St. Peter. To leave it before death can be construed as forsaking a mission charged by God almighty. That isn't the consensus of theologians.
Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican (news - web sites)'s secretary of state, said simply, "If there is a man who loves the Church more than anybody else, who is guided by the Holy Spirit ... that's him. We must have great faith in the pope. He knows what to do."
What to do includes clinging to the papacy as a full-time cripple, if medicine, which arrested death by only 10 minutes, can arrest death again for weeks and even months. But the progressive deterioration in the pope's health over the last several years confirms that there are yet things medical science can't do, and these include giving the pope the physical strength to coordinate and to use his voice intelligibly.
So, what is wrong with praying for his death? For relief from his manifest sufferings? And for the opportunity to pay honor to his legacy by turning to the responsibility of electing a successor to get on with John Paul's work? Muriel Spark commented in "Memento Mori": "When a noble life has prepared old age, it is not decline that it reveals, but the first days of immortality." That cannot be effected by the hospital in which the pope struggles.
Er... Ping?
He must have hit his head in the shower or something.
Did Buckley lose his mind?
Is WFB corresponding with Jack Kevorkian?
He and Peggy Noonan must've gotten 'hold of some bad wine (or...in Peggy's case...whine).
"Uh, this is William F. Buckley, uh....I've been taking peyote all morning and, uh....welcome to the home version of 'Crossfire.'"
Buckley should look at Andy Rooney and figure out what happens if you keep working as a media figure after you've gone senile.
Sad to say, but I aggree. I don't wish death on the man in a malicious sense, but I don't think it is wrong to pray to offer a man rest and the transition into heaven.
Bizarre. Apparently he's into symbolism over substance. If he doesn't look the part, pray for his demise.
So what happens when you're the Pope and you go senile? That's what he's talking about.
The issue isn't about compassion. I think we all want the suffering to meet a peaceful end. But what worse is that the crux of Buckley's argument is that the Pope is no longer useful (wrong on that, anyhow) and therefore, his continued existence is no longer needed.
I guess I don't see what the problem is.
I have too agree, as well.
He's not saying anything of the kind. Maybe you should read the article again.
I understand Buckley's desire that the Pope dies with the dignity he so well deserves, but sometimes you just shouldn't say certain things.
The time is long past for William to change the oil in his hair.
So, what is wrong with praying for his death? For relief from his manifest sufferings? And for the opportunity to pay honor to his legacy by turning to the responsibility of electing a successor to get on with John Paul's work?
It's called sanctity of life - even that of the crippled and suffering. There's zero evidence that the pope is senile. If the pope is comfortable with having the will to live and continue his work in spite of his sufferings, why is everyone else so UN-comfortable with it?
Nice addendum to this story from today:
Pope misses Mass, says suffering helps save souls
11 Feb 2005 17:19:09 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Phil Stewart
VATICAN CITY, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Pope John Paul, still convalescing after 10 days in hospital, told the world's sick on Friday that their suffering was "precious", but did not deliver his message in person at a special service for sick people.
The 84-year-old Pontiff returned to the Vatican on Thursday evening after doctors decided he had recovered from an acute breathing crisis brought on by a bout of influenza.
But Vatican officials are taking no risks with his frail health and the Pope missed Friday's commemorative Mass, held to mark the day the Roman Catholic Church dedicates each year to sick people.
Instead, a senior Cardinal read the Pope's speech, which made no reference to his time in hospital.
"Your suffering is never useless, dear sick people. Moreover, it's a precious thing," the speech said. "If you bring together your suffering and pain, you can be his (God's) privileged helpers in the salvation of souls".
Besides his recent breathing problems, the Pope suffers from Parkinson's disease and severe arthritis.
He no longer walks, has difficulty speaking and his urgent admission to hospital raised fresh questions over how long he can remain head of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.
In an apparent bid to allay fears about his health, John Paul was brought home from hospital in full public view, sitting in a brightly lit Popemobile for the five minute drive through Rome, which was broadcast live on Italian television.
To make the point that it was business as usual for the Vatican bureaucracy, the Holy See announced a flurry of appointments on Friday, including a successor to Paris Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger and posts in Mexico and Angola.
The Vatican has yet to say whether the Polish Pope will make his usual weekly blessing from his apartment windows on Sunday.
John Paul appeared at his hospital window last Sunday, speaking in a hoarse, barely audible voice that fuelled debate over whether he should resign.
Church law says a Pope can resign, but it is a rare event. The last Pope to resign willingly was Celestine V, who stepped down in 1294. Gregory XII reluctantly abdicated in 1415 when more than one Pope was reigning at the same time.
But the Pope's battle against illness and the weakness of the flesh is also seen as an inspiration by the faithful, even if the Pontiff cannot fully express himself verbally.
"The sick Pope is the icon of the suffering of humanity", Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone told ANSA news agency.
"There is a profound meaning in this event. The Pope ... shows his spiritual strength," Bertone said, adding that his struggle took on more meaning "in a society that increasingly values youth".
Let's just play devil's advocate and say that the Pope is a senile old drooler, utterly incapable of doing anything for himself, and dying in complete misery. It's still a sin to pray for this man's death, and it reveals that you think that some people are inherently less human than others. Where do you draw the line? The senile? The handicapped? The unborn? This line of logic is the slippery slope that can only lead to eugenics.
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