Tag Archives: John Paul

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Poland unveils giant statue of John Paul II

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A giant statue of the late Pope John Paul II billed as the world’s tallest has been unveiled in southern Poland.

Archbishop Waclaw Depo unveiled the statue of the Polish pontiff Saturday in the southern city of Czestochowa, the home of this predominantly Catholic nation’s most famous pilgrimage site, the Jasna Gora monastery.

The white fiberglass figure rises about five stories, or nearly 14 meters (more than 45 feet), on a hill overlooking the city.

It was funded by a businessman, Leszek Lyson, in gratitude for what he believes was an intervention by the late pontiff in saving his drowning son.

John Paul, who led the Roman Catholic church for 27 years before dying in 2005, remains a respected figure in his homeland.

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Major Rome square to be renamed for former pope John Paul II

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A corner of a big Rome piazza, known for hosting free rock concerts and political rallies, will be renamed after late pontiff John Paul II, with Pope Francis coming to the unveiling ceremony Sunday.

While Francis instantly proved to be a crowd pleaser — about 100,000 people turned out in St. Peter’s Square Sunday and a nearby street for his noon blessing — the mention of the widely beloved John Paul still prompts affectionate cheers. When Francis noted that John Paul “closed his eyes to this world” exactly eight years ago this month, in 2005, the new pope drew so much applause, he couldn’t finish his sentence as he spoke from the papal studio window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.

Francis invited people to join him later in Rome‘s main church, St. John in Lateran Basilica. Pontiffs are also the bishop of Rome, and a traditional installation ceremony at the basilica formally recognizes that Francis is Rome‘s bishop as well as the leader of the worldwide Roman Catholic church.

Before entering the basilica, Francis was scheduled to attend the unveiling of a plaque on a corner of the square near the church, naming that part of the piazza after John Paul. The late pontiff enthusiastically embraced his role as Rome‘s bishop, visiting hundreds of city parishes on Sunday mornings.

Francis might be the pope who decides whether another miracle has been attributed to John Paul‘s intercession, which would enable the late, Polish-born pontiff to enjoy the church’s highest honor, sainthood. The church process to certify a first miracle needed for John Paul‘s beatification went exceptionally fast. The six years it took from his death until Pope Benedict XVI beatified him in 2011 was the shortest time in modern history. Beatification is the last formal step before sainthood.

The vast St. John in Lateran piazza, which can hold hundreds of thousands of people, is a popular venue for free rock concerts on Labor Day, May 1, and a frequent rallying point for union leaders and politicians. Rome‘s city hall said the square was picked as an apt place to honor John Paul after consulting with an Italian cardinal who serves as the pope’s vicar general for the Rome diocese.

Pope Francis seemed to be adding a new twist to the role of public squares in everyday life. At his Vatican appearance Sunday, he encouraged faithful to “go into the piazzas and announce Christ our savior” to the people. “Bring the Good News with sweetness and respect,” he added. The “Good News” refers to the Gospels.

John Paul, then Benedict, and now Francis have all made shoring up flagging faith on the traditionally Christian European continent as well as in other affluent areas of the world a priority of their leadership. The Vatican is also keen on preserving Catholic loyalty in places like South America, where dynamic evangelical sects have been attracting baptized Catholics away from their faith, as well as encourage growing communities of Catholics in Africa and Asia.

The new pope is expected to lead Catholic youth in pep …read more

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Pope Francis, Bishop Of Rome, Invites Romans To Join Him At City Basilica

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By The Huffington Post News Editors

ROME — A corner of a big Rome piazza, known for hosting free rock concerts and political rallies, will be renamed after late pontiff John Paul II, with Pope Francis coming to the unveiling ceremony Sunday.

While Francis instantly proved to be a crowd pleaser – about 100,000 people turned out in St. Peter’s Square Sunday and a nearby street for his noon blessing – the mention of the widely beloved John Paul still prompts affectionate cheers. When Francis noted that John Paul “closed his eyes to this world” exactly eight years ago this month, in 2005, the new pope drew so much applause, he couldn’t finish his sentence as he spoke from the papal studio window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.

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Francis marks anniversary of John Paul II death

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Pope Francis has prayed before the tomb of Pope John Paul II on the eighth anniversary of the much-beloved pontiff’s death.

In his three weeks as pope, Francis has jolted the Catholic Church with several gestures that broke with tradition, including renouncing certain liturgical vestments and washing the feet of a Muslim woman during a Holy Thursday ritual re-enacting Jesus Christ‘s washing of his apostles’ feet.

But the Vatican said his visit Tuesday evening to St. Peter’s Basilica to pray before John Paul‘s tomb and those of Popes John XXIII and Pius X was evidence of his “profound spiritual continuity” with popes past.

On Monday, Francis visited the necropolis underneath the basilica where, according to tradition, St. Peter is buried.

Francis was elected pope March 13.

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Catholic universities offer support to Boston College on condom giveaway stance

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Boston College is getting support from prominent Catholic universities in its efforts to stop a student group from giving away condoms on campus.

According to the Boston Globe, officials at Catholic colleges and universities – including Notre Dame, Georgetown and Catholic University – say their policies are similar to that of Boston College, which threatened disciplinary action against students distributing condoms on school grounds.

“One of the teachings of our faith is that contraception is morally unacceptable,” Victor Nakas, a spokesman for Catholic University, told the paper. “Since condoms are a form of contraception, we do not permit their distribution on campus.”

A letter sent by Boston College telling on-campus groups they could face disciplinary action for a condom giveaway provoked angry reactions from students, and the American Civil Liberties Union said it might pursue legal action.

“BC is saying that they’re a private university, so we can do what we want,” said Sarah Wunsch, staff lawyer at the ­ACLU of Massachusetts. “But that’s actually not true.”

According to the Globe, Wunsch cited the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act of 1979, which prohibits interference with civil rights by private as well as public entities. She cited a court case lost by Boston University in the 1980s after the insti­tution attempted to force students to remove an antiapartheid poster from their dorm windows. In that case, the judge ruled that the state Civil Rights Act protected the free speech rights of the students, even though they attended a private school.

Most Catholic universities agree when it comes to distributing contraception on campus, said Michael Galligan-Stierle, president of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities.

Galligan-Stierle said Catholic educational institutions follow John Paul II’s “Ex Corde Ecclesiae,” a document he issued on church principles in 1990. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a US-specific interpretation of John Paul‘s document in 2001.

“There are certain ways of living that we, Catholics, believe lead to a healthier and holier life,” Galligan-Stierle said, according to the Globe. “This falls into one of many of those ways.”

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News, Politics, Government

Pope Francis reaches out to Jews

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Like his predecessor, Pope Francis reached out to Rome‘s Jewish community at the very start of his pontificate, pledging to continue to strengthen the increasingly close ties between Catholics and Jews.

Just hours after he was elected the first non-European pope in history, Francis sent a letter to Rome‘s chief rabbi Riccardo di Segni, saying he hoped to “contribute to the progress that relations between Jews and Catholics” have seen since the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council.

Jewish leaders welcomed the election of a pontiff seen as an ally when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires. Israeli President Shimon Peres said Francis would be a “welcome guest in the Holy Land” while Ronald Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress, said the new pope “always had an open ear for our concerns.”

“By choosing such an experienced man, someone who is known for his open-mindedness, the cardinals have sent an important signal to the world,” Lauder said. “I am sure that Pope Francis I will continue to be a man of dialogue, a man who is able to build bridges with other faiths.”

Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, as he was known before he became pope, showed as Buenos Aires archbishop an inclination to expand interfaith outreach to Islam and Judaism, and made efforts to further close the nearly 1,000-year estrangement with the Orthodox churches.

He was widely praised for his aid to Buenos Aires‘ Jewish community following the 1994 bombing of a Jewish Center that killed 85 people. Iran has been blamed for the attack, but denied any links. A joint Argentine-Iranian “truth commission” is studying the evidence.

“We hope that his word and his example contribute to the achievement of harmony brotherhood and peace among all peoples,” the Italian Rabbinical Assembly said, pledging to do its part to foster dialogue between Jews and Catholics “with mutual respect for their respective identities.”

Francis’ predecessors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, worked toward reconciliation between Catholics and Jews during their papacies.

Benedict’s first official act as pope was a letter to Rome‘s Jewish community and he became the second pope in history, after John Paul, to enter a synagogue. However, he met harsh criticism when he lifted the excommunication of a bishop who turned out to be a Holocaust-denier.

Lauder said the World Jewish Congress, …read more
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Reshaped papacy raises questions for church future

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Pope Benedict XVI has reshaped the papacy simply by giving it up. But how?

As the first pontiff in six centuries to step down, Benedict has carved a new path for his successors who decide they cannot rule for life. But scholars say the repercussions could reach beyond just changing how pontiffs leave to ultimately shape perceptions about the authority and significance of the pontificate.

“A lot of what it will mean has to do with what subsequent popes do. Does this become a precedent for future popes to follow or not?” said Phillip Thompson, executive director of the Aquinas Center of Theology at Emory University.

Benedict’s pontificate will end at 8 p.m. Thursday. He plans no role in the conclave that will choose the next pontiff, and will retreat to a life of prayer in a monastery behind Vatican walls. His decision shocked the church. But papal resignations are expected to become more likely over time because of extended lifespans and the growing demands of the pontificate, Thompson said.

Travel is now a major responsibility due largely to the globe-trotting example of Pope John Paul II. Shepherding the 1.1 billion faithful requires constant contact through the Internet. These days, Catholics far from the Holy See can watch the weekly general audience, ask the pope questions on Twitter and pray in real time along with pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square. As a result, staying on until death can mean a very public decline. John Paul, suffering from Parkinson’s disease and other health troubles, could no longer walk or talk when he died in 2005 at age 84.

The pope is regarded as a teacher, an international diplomat and an administrator, but he is also the vicar of Christ — a leader with a divine mission. Benedict’s retirement raised fears that the pontificate could be viewed as less holy. Some questions have even focused on the much misunderstood Catholic teaching on papal infallibility: With two popes, one emeritus and one in power, who will have the final say? In fact, infallibility applies to the office, not the person, and only when a pope invokes apostolic authority to define doctrine or morals for the entire church.

Yet, many Catholic scholars say the act has in some ways demystified the papacy, especially given the intense focus in the final days of Benedict’s pontificate to the 2012 scandal over leaked Vatican documents and what role the crisis had played in his decision to leave. Joseph Bottum, writing in The Weekly Standard, a conservative U.S. publication, …read more
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Could the next pope come from the United States?

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Conventional wisdom holds that no one from the United States could be elected pope, that the superpower has more than enough worldly influence without an American in the seat of St. Peter.

But after Pope Benedict XVI’s extraordinary abdication, church analysts are wondering whether old assumptions still apply, including whether the idea of a U.S. pontiff remains off the table.

Benedict himself has set a tone for change with his dramatic personal example. He is the first pontiff in six centuries to step down. Church leaders and canon lawyers are scrambling to resolve a litany of dilemmas they had never anticipated — from scheduled a conclave without a funeral first to choosing a title for a former pope.

The conclaves that created the last two pontificates had already upended one tradition: Polish-born Pope John Paul II ended 455 years of Italian papacies with his surprise selection in 1978. Benedict, born in Bavaria, was the first German pope since the 11th century.

“With the election of John Paul, with the election of Benedict, one wonders if the former boundaries seem not to have any more credibility,” New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan said, discussing Benedict’s decision this week at SiriusXM’s “The Catholic Channel.”

The election also follows a pontificate that featured Americans in unusually prominent roles.

Cardinal William Levada, the former San Francisco archbishop, was the first U.S. prelate to lead the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s powerful guardian of doctrine. Cardinal Raymond Burke, the former St. Louis archbishop, is the first American to lead the Vatican supreme court. And Benedict appointed others from the U.S. to handle some of his most pressing concerns, including rebuilding ties with breakaway Catholic traditionalists and overseeing the church’s response to clergy abuse cases worldwide.

But as Christopher Bellitto, a historian at Kean University in New Jersey who studies the papacy, said, “There’s a big difference between letting somebody borrow the car and handing them the keys.”

“The American church,” he said, “comes with a lot of baggage.”

Among the negatives is the clergy sex abuse scandal, which has affected every U.S. diocese and bishop.

The 11 U.S. cardinals expected to vote in the conclave will include Cardinal Roger Mahony, the …read more
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Pope avoids predecessor's show of suffering

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The closest of confidants, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger watched from the front row as Pope John Paul II, once a strapping athlete, steadily deteriorated in his later years.

John Paul, burdened by Parkinson’s disease and crippling hip ailments, could no longer walk or talk at the time of his death in 2005 at 84 — a picture of suffering that moved the faithful while presenting a disturbing vision of papal frailty. The physical ordeal also left John Paul distracted from the challenges the church was facing, including the global priest sex abuse scandal.

Ratzinger, elected as Pope Benedict XVI, was at 78 the oldest pope in 300 years. With his resignation, it is clear that he has sought to spare the church another agonizing end — and, in the process, perhaps help the church keep pace with the realities of modern-day medicine.

In his announcement, Benedict said his strength in recent months “has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.”

In the church, bishops are forced to resign at the age of 75, and cardinals over 80 are barred from voting in a conclave to elect a new pope. It’s only popes who are expected to rule for life. Now, the first papal resignation in 600 years could help set a modern precedent ensuring that popes, like other leaders with crushing responsibilities, have the mental and physical vigor to carry out the job.

Paris Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois said Benedict “broke a taboo.”

“He broke away from several centuries of practice,” the cardinal said, “and expressed the view that it wasn’t just legitimate but probably useful for a pope to renounce and withdraw from his duties”

“In any event, it’s a liberating act for the future … For the century to come I think that none of Benedict XVI’s successors will feel morally obliged to remain until their death,” the French prelate said.

Milan Cardinal Angelo Scola, considered a top candidate to succeed Benedict, endorsed that view. “It is, as he said, for the good of the church,” said Scola — although at age 71, he, too, would be an elderly pontiff if elected.

An examination of Benedict’s thinking makes the decision less …read more
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Vatican dismisses Iranian link to pope shooting

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The Vatican is dismissing Mehmet Ali Agca‘s latest claim about who ordered him to assassinate Pope John Paul II.

The Turkish gunman, who has changed his account many times, writes in “They Promised Me Paradise,” released Thursday in Italy, that Iran‘s late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ordered the killing and that he was trained to carry it out by Khomeini’s forces after he escaped from a Turkish prison.

Agca says he told John Paul of the Iranian connection when he visited him in prison.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said the book was clearly a publicity stunt and that “practically everything I was able to verify is false.”

Agca shot and wounded John Paul on May 13, 1981, in St. Peter’s Square. He was released from prison in 2010.

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John Paul II's gunman says Iran behind '81 attempt

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The Turkish gunman who shot Pope John Paul II has changed his story once again, saying in a new autobiography that Iran‘s late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini personally told him to kill the pope.

Mehmet Ali Agca writes in “They Promised Me Paradise,” released Thursday in Italy, that he was trained in Iran by Khomeini’s forces after escaping from a Turkish prison, and that the Iranian leader himself told him to kill John Paul in the name of God.

Agca shot and wounded John Paul on May 13, 1981, in St. Peter’s Square.

Minutes after being arrested, Agca said he had acted alone. Later, he suggested Bulgaria and the Soviet Union’s KGB were behind the attack, but then backed away from that assertion.

Agca was released from prison in 2010.

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