Keeping Up with John Paul II

Has anyone noticed how busy the Holy Father has been? Tad Szulc, the author of an unofficial biography about the Pope, has. His March 22 Los Angeles Times report might explain why there has been so little talk recently, as there once was, of the Holy Father retiring early to allow a more vigorous man to take over as Pope.

The Holy Father's activities “seem boundless in all imaginable ways,” he writes:

• “The Pope started 1998 with a five-day four-city visit to Cuba—immensely hot even in January.”

• Later, he elevated 20 new cardinals—meaning, reminds Szulc, that John Paul II has appointed 106 of the 122 cardinals who are younger than 80 and therefore eligible to vote for his successor.

• That same week, the Vatican released 4,500 volumes of files going back 500 years that shed light on the true nature of the Inquisition, hoping that “this image of the black legend” can be re-examined.

• In March, the Vatican released its statement about the Holocaust, which the Holy Father had initiated after his 1987 meeting with Jewish leaders.

• Two weeks ago, the Holy Father returned from his 82nd foreign trip, to Nigeria.

• In between the above events, and the ordinary events filling and overfilling his schedule, the Pope found time to meet his world and personal obligations. He met with Russian President Boris Yeltsin, and he elevated his long-time personal friend and secretary, Msgr. Stanislaw Dziwisz, to bishop.

The Pope and the Jewish People

Reporters have had a hard time finding a reliable list of things this Holy Father has done to reach out to the Jewish community worldwide. In his Los Angeles Times article March 22, Tad Szulc provides a partial list of important gestures:

• John Paul II was the first Pope ever to visit a synagogue (in Rome), and then writing about it with obvious joy in Crossing the Threshold of Hope.

• He presided over “an emotional concert at the Vatican to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the uprising in the Warsaw Jewish ghetto during the Nazi occupation.”

• He shepherded “delicate negotiations” to establish diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Israel.

The Unity and Authority of Nigerian Priests

To conclude its March 23 account of the Holy Father's recent visit to Nigeria, The Washington Post recounted the following anecdote, which it said shows—in its small way—the power and papal devotion of Nigeria's priests.

“[A]s the Pope took the podium, a local television cameraman stood before rows of Nigerian priests, taping the Pontiff. One priest crept forward to tap him on the arm. ‘You are blocking our view of the Holy Father,’ he whispered.”

“The cameraman turned and raised a hand for patience. ‘I'll just be a little while,’ he said.”

“This answer turned the polite plea into a display of priestly authority and unity. A score of clerical index fingers wagged at the cameraman like metronomes, to a chorus of ‘No, no, no, no, no!’ He slunk away.”