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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MAY 31, 1985
The pope knew he was in for a confrontation. Public-opinion
polls showed that few Dutch Catholics welcomed his visit to their
free-thinking country. Protests began the week before he ar
rived, and an ug1 ¥ series of posters offering "rewards" for the
pope's assassination appeared in Amsterdam and other cITies."
Though few people took the threats serious!y;---they cast a pall
over the trip••••
Holland's 5.5 million Catholics--nearly 40 percent of the popula
tion--have forged a resolute and liberal tradition.
Since the
early 1960s, many church leaders have advocated the ordination of
women as priests, the loosening of rules against birth control,
premarital sex, divorce and homosexuality and the right of lay
persons to celebrate mass•••• Just last February the pope named
Johannes ter Schure, a noted conservative, as bishop of 's Her
togenbosch, sparking rebellious protests by more liberal Dutch
Catholics. "It doesn't matter any more what the pope tells us or
what these old bishops are saying," said Tine Halkes, professor
of theology at Nijmegen University and a prominent Catholic
liberal. "Our own church marches on."•••
At times John Paul appeared to concede somewhat to Dutch sensi
bilities by dropping controversial passages from prepared texts.
But on one subject, the pope rejected compromise. The church's
words on "marital love, abortion, sexual relations before or
outside marriage or homosexual relations," he said, "remain the
standard for the church for all time." .••
Even•••as his authority was being called into question, John Paul
managed to be characteristically disarming.
He charmed many
Dutchmen by delivering all but one of his speeches in their dif
ficult language, asking them to "Forgive my Dutch."
[He had
studied Dutch an hour a day for several months.]
The pope may
also have won over a few supporters by his unruffled handling of
the unruly demonstrators, whose behavior surely embarrassed many
Hollanders. In fact, an opinion poll taken just after John Paul
departed found that his popularity had risen considerably. Near
ly 70 percent of those asked said they liked the pope, a signifi
cant jump from the 41 percent who answered favorably before the
visit.
Even so, it is unlikely that the fiercely independent Dutch will
give in so easily to John Paul's plea for Catholic unity on many
of today's most divisive issues. For now, not even the most out
spoken Dutch Catholics advocate aorea'KwitnRome. --YutIT John
Paul continues to demand uncompromising
oEealeiice:
the Dutch may
one day be forceci to make the choice.
The Dutch are certainly "stiff-necked Israelites," as the following inter
view with Ruud Lubbers, Prime Minister of the Netherlands, seems to con
firm. The interview also appeared in the same issue of NEWSWEEK:
NEWSWEEK: In speaking to the pope, you referred to Dutch distrust
of the Vatican. What did you mean?