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| -Short Attention Span Theater- | ||
| The Pope Has Died | ||
| 2005-04-02 | ||
Pope John Paul II died today, ending one of the longest and most eventful pontificates in history and ushering in a new period of challenges, choices and possibly profound change for the Roman Catholic Church. John Paul died after a sharp decline in his condition that began on Thursday evening when he began to suffer from a high fever stemming from a urinary tract infection. The last two months of the pope's life had been marked by intense suffering as the 84-year-old pontiff, long afflicted with Parkinson's disease, struggled with one health crisis after another that required two protracted stays in the Gemelli Polyclinic hospital in Rome. Doctors had inserted a tube into his throat to ease his breathing, and later another tube through his nose to help feed him. The pope's last days, however, were lived out in the Apostolic Palace, in the papal apartment. The Vatican spokesman had said that even as John Paul's condition worsened over the last two days, he had expressed a wish not to return to the hospital. In his later years, and particularly over the past two months, John Paul's perseverance amid suffering became one of the central messages of his papacy. A man who had born witness to the horrors of the Holocaust and communism was seen by many Catholics as living testimony of the importance of fulfilling one's duties and fighting for convictions whatever the physical cost. That was seen last week during his last appearances at the window of the papal apartments, where he struggled in vain to speak and at times appeared wracked with pain. Because the pope's health had been in decline for so long, senior church leaders have been readying themselves for his death for years. But the church itself is in many ways unprepared to deal with his passing. One of the reasons for that is the sheer length of his pontificate -- more than 26 years, the third longest in church history after Peter and Pius IX. When John Paul began his reign in 1978, the major global challenge of the day was the Cold War, which the pope, through his support of the Polish Solidarity movement, helped bring to an end with the fall of the Soviet Union. While the world has changed dramatically since then, the leadership of the Catholic Church has remained the same. "Despite its universality, the Roman curia is still a very Italian-style institution," says Father Thomas Williams, the dean of theology at Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University in Rome. That means his successor will have a considerable amount of reorganizing to do. In addition, John Paul II's pontificate was in some ways so energetic that it will be difficult for the 117 voting cardinals to find someone who can measure up to his legacy. John Paul II took 104 trips abroad. He canonized 482 saints, compared with 302 during the previous 500 years of the Church. He also issued 14 encyclicals -- the church's most authoritative document -- 15 apostolic exhortations, 11 apostolic constitutions, 45 apostolic letters, along with five books, making him the most prolific writer in papal history, as well. He even issued a document that fine-tunes the process of choosing his own successor, Universi Dominici Gregis, which was released in 1996. Until the next pope is chosen, the church is now in the hands of the camerlengo, or chamberlain, Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo of Spain. One of his first tasks following the pope's death is to smash the "ring of the fisherman," the symbol of papal authority, with a hammer. The tradition dates back to when the ring was used to seal papal documents with wax, and could be put to nefarious uses if possessed by the wrong people. John Paul II specified that the conclave, the secret session held in the Sistine Chapel during which the cardinals under the age of 80 meet to choose a successor, must begin 15 to 20 days after his death. In the interim begins an intense period of mourning for this pope, known as the novemdiales, and campaigning for the next one. During the actual conclave, the cardinals are isolated from the outside world and take an oath to keep the proceedings secret. A two-thirds majority is needed to elect a new pope. However, John Paul changed the rules to allow for the possibility of a simple majority vote if the conclave finds itself in a protracted deadlock. Once the new pope is chosen, he only officially assumes the role after he says "Accepto," Latin for "I accept." At that point, he puts on a white cassock and is introduced to the world from a window in St. Peter's with the words "Habemus Papam," or "We have a pope." The elaborate procedures for choosing a new leader are meant to underscore how the permanence and authority of the highest church office are greater than that of any individual who happens to occupy it. Still, it will be up to this next pope to guide the Catholic Church through what will undoubtedly be a period of intense change and challenge. At the most basic level, the church is struggling to carry out its mission in an age when many fewer people are taking religious vows. The number of nuns, for example, dropped 21% between 1978 and 2002. World-wide, the number of priests has also fallen by almost 4% in the same period, even though the number of Catholics has risen. But in places like Europe, the drop has been precipitous, falling 19%, while in Africa and Asia, the numbers have exploded. Europe, once a Catholic stronghold, has proven to be one of the church's weakest points lately. The Holy See fought a losing battle to try to get the European Union to recognize the Christian roots of Europe in its constitution. Mass attendance has been declining, along with birth rates. In Asia, the world's most populous continent, the Catholic Church is still trying to gain a stronger presence even after centuries of missionary work there. Generous estimates of the number of Catholic faithful in China, where the Roman Catholic Church operates under great state repression, is only 15 million in a country of more than 1.3 billion. In addition, major advances in technology and bioethics are proposing new ethical challenges to which the Church must continually respond. These and other challenges are going to make this conclave one of the most pivotal in recent history. "The Pope should be the best man for the job," said Cardinal Godfried Danneels of Belgium, himself considered one of the more likely candidates. "He needs to be the right man in the right place."
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| Posted by:Robin Burk |
| #1 Rest in peace. |
| Posted by: Korora 2005-04-02 3:17:48 PM |