Posted on 03/06/2003 6:33:24 PM PST by chance33_98
Pope writes of his death, rules out resignation in epic poem
March 7 2003
Pope John Paul has written about his own death for the first time and indirectly ruled out his resignation in a three-part epic poem published yesterday.
In the work, entitled Roman Triptych, he wrote that the next papal election would take place after his death.
Meditating on the role he has played for the past 25 years, since being elected to the highest power in the Catholic church on October 16, 1978, he wrote: "And so it will be again, when it becomes necessary, after my death."
On his own death, the seriously ill 82-year-old pontiff wrote: "That which was well-formed, will be misshapen-shapen. That which was alive - is now lifeless. That, which was beautiful - is now ugly desolation. I do not die completely, when that which is in me lasts on indestructibly."
In the 11-page work, which is written in parts in prose and in parts in verse, the pope also meditates on present-day Iraq, the ancient homeland of Abraham.
However, he did not go into the looming threat of war.
Translation of excerpts of papal poetry
Excerpts from the official English translation of Pope John Paul's Roman Tryptich.
Part I The Stream
What are you saying to me, mountain stream? Where, in which place, do we meet? Do you meet me who is also passing - just like you. ... If you want to find the source, you have to go up, against the current, tear through, seek, don't give up, you know it must be somewhere here. Where are you, source? Where are you, source?!
Part II Meditations on the Book of Genesis At the threshold of the Sistine Chapel
Those to whom the care of the legacy of the keys has been entrusted gather here, allowing themselves to be enfolded by the Sistine's colours, by the vision left to us by Michelangelo - so it was in August, and then in October, of the memorable year of the two Conclaves, and so it will be again, when the need arises after my death.
Fulfillment - Apocalypsis
The End is as invisible as the Beginning.
The universe emerged from the Word, and returns to the Word.
Right at the heart of the Sistine Chapel, the artist shows this invisible End
in the visible drama of the Judgment -
And this invisible End became visible as the highpoint of clarity:
ominia nuda et aperta ante oculos Eius.
The words recorded by Matthew, here become the painter's vision:
"Come, you who are blessed ... depart from me, you accursed" ...
And so the generations pass - naked they come into the world and naked they return to the earth from which they were formed.
"From dust you came, and to dust you shall return"; all that had shape into shapelessness.
What was alive is now dead;
all that was beautiful is now the ugliness of devastation.
And yet I do not altogether die,
what is indestructible in me remains!
(From the Latin: Everything is disclosed and revealed before his eyes.)
Like all experienced outdoorsmen with a well-developed sense of where to pitch camp, the Holy Father's keenly aware of the importance of a good water supply. The water to be sought above all is the highest water, water at its source: clean, clear, simple, and coolest where it springs from living Rock.
'Czeslaw Milosz, the leading Polish poet and Nobel Prize for literature winner, said: "There are many poets and many poems, but there are few poems of such profoundness.
"It is a conversation between man and God."'
How very Tao.
I'm not Catholic, but I love the Pope's poetry. It really moves me, especially his early stuff.
I would urge anybody who hasn't read his poetry, to do so. It's really incredible.
I guess the naysayers on this thread aren't into poetry.
That is not what Catholics believe about Papal Infallibility. The Pope is infallible on a narrow range of issues, under specific conditions--pretty much the same conditions under which a Baptist preacher believes himself to be infallible. Namely, when he is teaching what has been preached always and everywhere by those who have gone before him.
You have exposed yourself for the umpteenth time as a bigot.
Your ignorance of the Catholic faith is glaring. The teaching of infalliblity is only invoked on certian very specific issues of faith and morals -- e.g., Christ is the Son of God; Christ arose from the dead, etc...."
There have been very few papal pronouncements in the last 100 years that would even fall within the doctrine of infallibility.
The doctrine if infallibility does not mean, as you imply, that the Pope is perfoect or that he never sins or that everything he says is correct."
Please pass it on to others who make similar uniformed statements.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.