Basic HTML Version
RELIGIOUS UNION
(Continued from page 2)
this particular Pope that made the
trip possible. Displays of public
intolerance were remarkably few.
Newspapers of all political per–
suasion unanimous ly welcomed
J ohn Paul II. They particularly
praised his courage in coming to
Britain ata time when the
nation was at war in the
Falkland lslands with Ar–
gentina, a predominant ly
Roman Catholic nation.
Sorne jou rnal ists and
editorial writers seemed
al most stunned by the
Pope's participation in
ec umenica l events in
Canterbu ry and , two days
later , in Liverpool. At
Liverpool's gigantic An–
glican cathedral, the Pope
said that "the restoration
of unity among Christians
is one of the main con–
ceros of the church in the
last part of the 20th cen–
tury. And the task is for
all of us. No one can
claim exemption." An
edi torial in the
Times
of
London, on M ay 31,
reported:
"The Visit- no need to
say whose-seems to be
going
remarkably
well. . . . For the Roman
Catholic popu lation of
England he has provided
that sense of joy, courage
ders, there is in this man great
power and majesty. Amid a dozen
archbishops and 50 bishops he
stood out preeminent, the bishop of
Rome himself, come to perform
[an] historie act of reconci liation in
the cradle of Anglican Chr istian–
ity."
Other writers, though Anglican,
praised the Pope for not wavering
from Catholic doctrines and tradi-
green with envy. He has spoken as
a shepherd of a flock; he has done
so in unwavering language; he has
delivered sermons of a length
which would have del ighted the
P rotestant reformers of the six–
teenth cent ury.... What a contrast
to the timorous, five-mi nute exer–
cises (a couple of jokes and a brief
exhortation ... ) which is now the
fare casually flung before the hun–
gry sheep fro m mos t
Anglican pulpits!"
Pope as Peacemaker?
In centu ries past, nearly
every major point of d ivi–
sion within the Ch r istian–
professing world loomed
large, vir tua ll y insur–
mountable. This may no
longer be the case in an
age fraught with the spec–
ter of nuclear annihila–
t ion . The awesome dan–
gers confronting humani–
ty have awakened a des ire
on the part of many to
overlook doctrinal differ–
ences in order to present a
"common Christ ian
front" to the world.
In other words,
there is
an imperative for church
unity today.
Not unity
for unity's sake, but unity
for the sake of an elusive
world peace.
and spiritual uplift that
they were hoping for. The
rest of us have been given
much to respond to, and
Enthusiastic crowds, such as this one in G/asgow, greeted Pope
John Paul
JI
wherever he went in Britain. Pub/ic protests of the
trip were remarkab/y few.
In this light, the Pope
in Rome assumes center
stage position, as he is by
far the leading religious
personal ity worldwide–
"very much a Pope of the
world" as one London
newspaper called him.
In the English city of
much to think about. The
combination of the power of the
man's personality and the majesty
of his office is almost troub–
ling.... The common declaration
with Archbishop Runcie [at Can–
terbury] may seem almost prosaic.
When the feeling of unity in Christ
is so st rong, what need we any fur–
ther international commissions, one
is tempted to ask .... "
The
Sunday Telegraph,
May 30,
commented on the Pope's perfor–
mance at Canterbury in this man–
ner:
"Despite the stoop in bis shoul-
September
1
October 1982
tions, just for the sake of unity. In
the
Sunday Telegraph
of June 6,
author T.E. Utley praised the Pope
for speaking out, in sermons before
his own Catholic audiences, agains t
"the predominantly pagan culture
in which we live."
Mr. Utley then inferred that the
question of "papal authority"- an
age-old stumbling block to church
unity- may not be as big an obsta–
ele as many think. He continued:
"The Pope has given us an exam–
ple of 'authority' which must have
made many Protestant pastors
Coventry, whose Angli–
can cathedral was destroyed by
Nazi bombs in World War 11, the
Pope made a stirring appeal for
world peace.
"The ruins of the old cathedral
remind our society of its capacity to
destroy," said John Paul. "Today
the scale and the horror of modern
warfare, whether nuclear or not,
makes it totally unacceptable as a
means of settling differences
between nations. War should
belong to the tragic past, to bis–
tory."
The Pope's remarks caused one
39