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.
How about praying for God's will instead?
This is what happens when old writers live too long: they start to judge when it is right for others to die...
BTW, I agree with what you said.
I'm in your corner; my father also suffers from advanced Parkinson's Disease, worse than Cardinal Wojtyla's. It is incredibly painful to have to watch him suffer the way he is (he lives at home with me) and I have to confess to praying for the agony for him to end.
Nah, I wasn't wondering, I was convinced that Buckley was a long time gone.
Buckley is getting very old. He is pretty well retired now and it is clear why that is so. His prose has deteriorated, his organization is gone.
Sic transit gloria mundi
Praying for God's will is just as blasphemous, since it presupposes that the current situation is NOT God's will. As difficult to fathom as it might seem, the Pope's suffering IS God's will. I'm not one to try to understand the almighty, but perhaps the Pope is suffering in order to humanize aging and disease, and remind everything that there is an essential dignity in Life, regardless of how insignificant or horrible it might seem. The man in his suffering is an inspiration... can you think of someone else who was an inspiration in His suffering? Would you have prayed for God to ease His suffering? Perhaps a heart attack in the Garden at Gethsemane?
This is really sick. Although in charge, the Pope doesn't actually run the Vatican. The day to day matters can be run by multiple levels of administrators, as has always been done. If a doctrinal matter needs to be addressed and JP is truly incapacitated, it can be deferred and decided upon until he either recovers or dies, after which the new Pope can decide. There can only be one Pope. Some people seem overly eager to see either JP die or resign.
Huh? Didn't Christ pray for God's will be done in the Garden of Eden? Why does praying for God's will presuppose that the situation ISN'T God's will? That doesn't make any sense whatsoever. One prays for God's will in order to remove their own selfish desires from whatever it is they're petitioning.
Not sure where you came up with the 'Praying for God's will is just as blasphemous' part...
Excuse me - Garden of Gethsemane
for those of our school chums, or their relatives, who were in mortal danger. I gather from the remarks posted that this quaint custom has passed out of fashion?
The difference is that Buckley's asserting that the Pope is only hanging onto the papacy because of pride. Do you think for one second he would be praying for the pope's "happy death" if he (the pope)wasn't still in a position of power? He would be forgotten by the public in some Swiss chalet until the media-circus funeral.
It brings discomfort to people, that's understandable. It's not a reason to pray for his death.
You bring up an interesting point. For me, it isn't that JPII is without use, but I do think that a young and mobile Pope would be even more useful. Of course, I have my own opinions of what sort of stance the new Pope should take and all of that, but the point is that JP has served the Church well for 20+ years and, I think, take a rest. I don't mean that he should resign, but I wouldn't be sad to see him pass.
Matthew 6:9-10:
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
So...Jesus was a blasphemer, and a suborner of blasphemy?
Sanctity of life? The whole notion of sanctity of life is that God is the author of our lives- if God takes JP then it is his will. If God lets JP live, then that is also his will. Praying to GOD to allow JP to enter the Kingdom is a far cry from euthenasia. People seem to be so obsessed with death as if it were the end, where as Buckley and Catholics believe it to be the beginning...
Christ wasn't suggesting that one pray that God enforces God's will, only that we recognize that God's will will be done.
Praying for God to relieve the Holy Father's suffering is one thing--praying for his death is another. Let God determine if the Holy Father's suffering can only be relieved through death.
Personally, I find your post title smug and offensive.
Buckley is the founder of the modern conservative movement, and one of the people who shaped the ideas and philosophy of a generation. He is one of the people who built the foundations of what would later become the Reagan revolution.
He is entitled to some respect from the people on this site.
I dont always agree with Bill, but he is entitled to his opinion, as are we all.
To characterize him as a senile, crack smoking, pot smoking, selfish old coot (did I miss anything) sounds like agitprop to me.
It sounds like the crap we see over on the leftist political cult site...Democratic Underground.
As far as Buckleys point...I believe you missed it. Once you go through the experience of watching a loved one go through the final death throes of a painfull terminal illness, maybe you will understand what Buckley is talking about.
Praying to God for anything not already planned by God is futile, since as an infinite Prime Mover, God's will cannot be influenced by finite creations. The Lord's Prayer, theologically, heads dangerously close sometimes to being more than a little fatuous.
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