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POPE'SVISIT
(Continued from page 6)
States-are the chief whipping boys.
Little acknowledgment was given by
the pontiff to the hundreds of billions
of dollars worth of foreign a id, grants
and forgi va ble loans (hardly
"crumbs" ) extended on the part of
the United States and other Western
nations. (Significantly enough,
Cuba's Fidel Castro carne to the
same rostrum one week later
to
out–
·rageously demand, in bis new self–
professed role as spokesman for the
world's poor, another $300 billion
over the next ten years! )
Few journalists chose to challenge
the major precepts of.the pope's U.N.
message. And the public as a whole,
in its wild euphoria, took scant notice
of what he said. But the pontiff's
"world view" did not represent good
news for America.
White House History
The most dramatic· moment on the
pope's itinerary occurred on Saturday,
October 6. Over two hundred years of
estrangement between the Vatican and
the government of the United States
carne to an unofficial end. For the first
time in history a pope visited the White
House, an event unthinkable just two
decades ago.
President Carter greeted Jobn
Paul as a "pilgrim for peace among
nations." The pope answered that he
truly wisbed to be "tbe messenger of
peace and brotherhood."
Later, on the White House lawn,
Mr. Carter proclaimed that "God
blessed America by sending you to
us ... . welcome to our country, our
new friend." The pope then kissed bis
host.
The following day, in the last act
of bis visit , John Paul celebrated
mass on the Mall in Washington, in
sight of the towering Washington
Monument. He thus turned another
page in history. Over a century ear–
lier, Pope Pius IX, following the ex–
ample of other European heads of
state, sent a block of ltalian marble
to be used in the construction of the
monument. Outraged members of a
small política! party dumped the
stone in the Potomac River.
That event (in the 1840s) was
symbolic of the fact that Catholicism
40
had but a minor role to play in the
foundation of pluralist, predominant–
ly Protestant America . The great
waves of Catholic immigrants carne
after the mold of U.S . society had
already been cast. Now this breach
between the "Holy See" and Wash–
ington is being healed. An official
exchange of arnbassadors, long shun–
ned in Washington, may not be too
far off in the future.
Switched Themes
The " humanistic pope" libera lly
laced his speeches with such phrases
as "human values," "human solidari–
ty," and " dignity of the human per–
son." He said nothing that 1 can re–
call , however, about the majesty of
the Almighty God, or the glory of the
risen Jesus Christ who sits at His
Father's right hand in heaven. (One
journalist for a Philadelphia pape.r
got bis personalities a bit confused by
claiming that John Paul was a "sim–
ple man who sits at God's right
hand." He should have referred to
Mark 14:62; 16:19; Hebrews 1:3; 8:1;
10: 12; 12:2 and I Peter 3:22 before
committing himself to print.)
Midway on bis trip, however, the
pope swtiched themes, concentrating
mainly on controversies deeply divid–
ing the Catholic ch.urch in America.
In doing so, he reaffirmed (in an un–
compromising manner that shocked
church conservatives and liberals
alike) traditional papal positions
against married priests, women in
the priesthood, abortion and contra–
ception. Nuns were surprised to hear
him urge that they return to wearing
the traditional "habit."
The pope not only understands
American society well (he rarely in–
voked the name of the Virgin Mary
so as not to offend majority Protes–
tants) , but he is painfully aware of
the seri o us rift s in American
Catholicism.
He knows, for example, that 80
percent of American Catholics be–
lieve it is possible to employ artificial
birth control methods and still be a
loyal churchgoer. (Catholic bishops
call such members "a la carte Catho–
lics"-those who pick and choose the
doctrines they wish to obey.)
Many sociologists believe it is now
unrealistic to think that yoünger gen–
erations of Catholics in the U.S. who
have grown up in a climate of sexual
permtsstveness will ever step back–
wards in time and toe the line on the
birth control issue.
One must ask the question: Will
the pope someday come to realize
that he has •"lost" bis church in the
United States? Will this realization
contribute to tbe very downfaU of
this country, prophesied to occur at
the hands of a religiously dominated
European federation, reconstituting
the Roman Empire?
Ecumenical Push
The confrontation between the tradi–
tional pope and liberal Catholicism
drew headlines for much of the sec–
ond half of John Paul's trip. But a
singular event on the morning of his
last day in Washington deserved
more press coverage than it re–
ceived.
In a brief and simple ceremony
that would have been unthinkable
not so long ago, Pope Jobn Paul II
prayed in the chape! of Trinity Col–
lege with American 1eaders of eight
other Christian faiths.
As expected, the brief 40-min!Jle
meeting produced no breakthroughs
on tbe unity front. Yet it was hailed
by participants as a symbolic gesture
of enormous importance. The Roman
Catholic officials who organized the
service said it was the first time a
pope had ever prayed with so many
different religious leaders at once.
In Boston too, on the eve of the
first stop on the pope's journey to
America, the ecumenical spirit had
blossomed. In a letter to Humberto
Cardinal Medeiros of the Boston
Archdiocese, nine New England
Protestant and Anglican church
leaders said this: "The papal visit is
an opportunity for ecumenical cele–
bration. The Bishop of Rome, be–
cause of the traditional significance
of the office and of the Church
in
wbich he serves, is one whom we hold
in high esteem and one whom we
reach out to embrace across our his–
torical divisions. As members with
tbe Roman Catholic family in the
one Body of Christ, we remember the
words of St. Paul, ' If one member is
honored, all rejoice together.' We
therefore are asking all Christians–
Catholic, Protestant, Anglican, and
Orthodox-to transcend our present
and past differences on this occasion,
and to mark the papal visit as a sign
The
PLAIN TRUTH December 1979