The Pope's Apology
Dr. David Frawley
http://www.ghen.net/forum/postlist.pl?Cat=15,44&Board=davidfrawley
Pope John Paul II recently made an almost too well publicized apology for the
wrongs and injustices, the sins committed by Catholics throughout the
centuries. He mentioned the Crusades, Inquisition and the mistreatment of the
Jews, among other actions that led to hatred, oppression and genocide. The
event was more a great media show than a sincere and humble statement of the
heart. The whole gesture was broadcast with great ceremony, almost as if it
were a piece of propaganda.
The Pope's first concern was the Jews, who have been persecuted by the
Christians during the last two thousand years, with the Nazis being perhaps
the greatest of a long series of episodes of Anti-Semitism in Europe. There
have been many criticisms of the Church for its role in tolerating, if not
supporting the Nazis. The Pope's apology is also meant to counter criticism
against his recent effort to get Pope Pius XII canonized as a saint. Pope Pius
XII was the Pope during World War II who never tried to stop the Nazis.
Many Jews are critical of the effort to canonize Pope Pius XII and suspect him
of collaborating with the Nazis. The Pope's seeking of forgiveness from the
Jews is a way to redress that as well.
His second concern was the Muslims. The Pope wants recognition in the Islamic
world. Today the great majority of devoted Catholics are in similar Third
World circumstances and Catholic missionaries are competing with Islamic
missionaries, particularly in Africa. The Pope made a very high profile visit
to Israel recently, appeared arm and arm with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat
and made a public plea for a Palestinian State, almost as if he were more a
political than a religious leader.
The place of Hindus and Buddhists in this mistreatment can be inferred but the
silence about these religions is poignant. The Pope failed to mention these
religions by name, as has been his general tendency not to want to recognize
them as valid religions - a courtesy that he does yield to other Biblical
beliefs. The Inquisition came to India, specifically to Goa. The Catholic
Church has been quite active in Asia as well throughout the centuries and
often using the same questionable tactics. The Pope also failed to
specifically mention the pagans of Europe that were the object of much
Christian hatred and violence from the destruction of pagan temples to the
burning of witches in the Middle Ages. Even today pagan groups in Europe have
to deal with strong opposition from the Church.
I don't mean to say that the Pope's gesture has no value or cannot be a step
in the right direction. Hopefully, Protestant Christians and Muslims, whose
history is just as bloody relative to other faiths, can follow suit. But the
Pope's apology is perhaps more notable for what it did not say. We should not
read into it more than what he indicated. Unless it is followed by more
genuine actions, it may only be an effort to avoid real scrutiny.
According to Catholic doctrine, the Church is a heavenly body, the bride of
Christ and can therefore suffer from no real deficiency. Hence, the Pope is
not apologizing for any real mistakes done by the Church because, by
definition in Catholicism, the Church is capable of no real wrong. He is
apologizing for mistakes made by church members, which can include priests,
bishops and even previous Popes, but which only occurred by their failure to
live up to the heavenly status of the Church. So the Pope's apology is not
really for the wrongs of the Catholic Church but only for the wrongs of
individual Catholics. In this regard it is an attempt to maintain the purity
of the Church and to uphold its power. It is the Church apologizing for the
deficiencies of its members, not for its own mistakes.
Secondly, the Pope's statement does not contain a repudiation of any Catholic
doctrines; particularly those that require that Catholics convert the world to
their belief, which notion was responsible for most of the violence that he
criticizes. The Pope's apology is not an acceptance of other religions or a
statement that salvation is possible outside the Church or apart from Jesus.
It is not a declaration of respect for the religions of the world. It is not a
proclamation of religious pluralism. The Pope did not say that other religions
are as good as Christianity or that Jesus is the only Son of God and the sole
redeemer of humanity. In fact, his recent statements in Asia, his call to
evangelize the region and convert Asia to Catholicism, proclaim the opposite.
His plea for forgiveness was to God, not to other people and certainly not to
other religions. He was not apologizing to other religions for the Catholic
Church failing to recognize their truth or their holiness in the eyes of God.
He was not reaching out to other religions, so much as making an appeal to
members of other religions in order to draw them closer to Christ and the
Church in order to convert them. He preserved the exclusivism of Catholic
belief in tact.
That this forgiveness coincides with a new church initiative to convert Asia
to Christianity should not be forgotten. It is an attempt to give the Church a
more liberal modern face to aid in its conversion efforts. It represents only
a change of style. In the past conversion often occurred along with force and
intimidation. This policy cannot work in the post-colonial era, when the
Church does not have military support. So the Pope is trying a new, more
friendly style. But the goal is the same - Christianity for all.
When a person confesses his sins to a Catholic priest he is always given some
sort of penance. It is easy to ask for forgiveness but it should lead to some
sort of action or it may be sincere. It is not enough to say you are sorry and
ask for forgiveness if you have hurt others. You must stop the hurtful actions
and make amends. The Pope should follow up his words with real efforts to
rectify past wrongs, many of which are still continuing. If someone runs over
you with a car, it is not enough to ask for forgiveness and walk away. The
Catholic Church has ruined entire civilizations in its history, and has cast a
pall over others.
Perhaps it should make a memorial to the victims of its Inquisitions. Above
all, it must recognize that the religions that it has trampled over must be
addressed as well.
The Pope should arrange meetings not only with Jews and Muslims, but with
Hindus, Buddhists and Pagans, asking their forgiveness and seeking ways to
address the wrongs that the Church has done to them and being open to real
dialogue with them. Let the Pope ask forgiveness not simply of the people the
Church may have harmed, let him ask forgiveness of their religions and
religious leaders. Let him ask forgiveness of the Shankaracharyas or the Dalai
Lama for denigrating their religions. Let him say that these other religions
are as good and holy as Christianity. This he has not done and will not
recommend. In fact, he has warned his priests and nuns against following yoga
and other eastern practices, which he called selfish.
Many people were forcibly converted to Catholicism. Their native holy places
were replaced by churches. Will the Pope tell such people to return to their
original faith? Will he even tell them that their original faith was as good
as Christianity? Will he work to restore at least a few native places of
worship that the Church has stolen? If not, how can his apology be taken
seriously?
Above all, the Pope should stop the policies that have led to such inequities.
The entire Catholic process of proselytization has a sordid history. To ask
for forgiveness for its excesses, but to continue with these conversion
efforts is insincere.
The real question is whether the Catholic seeking to convert the world to its
faith, based upon its declaration - recently affirmed by the Pope - that Jesus
is the sole savior of humanity, is inherently a cause of intolerance, social
disharmony and violence. When a missionary goes into a community and tells its
members that salvation is only possible through Jesus and that their existing
religion will not save them, that already is a form of intolerance and
violence that must lead to disharmony and conflict.
The Pope has made great efforts to portray Catholicism as a force of social
liberalism, allied with leftist causes as in the Liberation Theology, that is
the defender of the poor and a force for social equality. At the same time he
is asking for the canonization of Pope Pius XII who stood silent before Nazi
and Fascist aggression and genocide. Mussolini was a good Catholic in frequent
communication with the Church. Catholic priests and bishops are well known to
have blessed Nazi and Italian Fascist troops.
Catholicism was long a natural ally of fascism. Theocracy, authoritarian and
military rule are as old as Constantine, the first Roman emperor to become a
Christian. Spanish and Portuguese colonial rulers, who indulged in genocide of
populations in America and Asia, acted with the sanction of the Church on
their regimes. The military dictators of Central and South America in recent
times, up to Pinochet were good Catholics and had Church leaders allied with
them.
The Liberation Theology that arose in the Americas in recent years was a new
phenomenon and often opposed by the Church. In fact, Pope John II has put an
end to most of it in the Americas. He only promotes this Liberation Theology
in India because of its conversion value.
The fact is that, historically, the Catholic Church has been allied with
military dictatorships, theocracies, and colonial oppression. Jesuits
functioned as spies to study and undermine countries for conversion purposes.
The older history of popes, anti-popes is there for all to see. The actual
Church is not the bride of Christ or purity but a house with many dark corners
and many skeletons in its closets that have yet to be cleaned out.
If the Pope is a true social liberal let him work not just for the equality of
people but for the equality of religions as well. Let him not just say that
all human beings are equal; let him also honor other religions as great. Let
him honor not just Biblical religions, but the dharmic traditions of Asia as
valid ways to God or Truth.
The problems that the Pope has asked forgiveness for are inherent in the very
nature and structure of the Church. When you create an exclusive organization
to dispense salvation to the entire world, you endow it with a kind of
absolute authority like that of a dictator that naturally leads to corruption.
The future does not belong to the Catholic Church or to any institutionalized
belief. No group can claim to own or represent God or dispense salvation by
belief in its doctrines. Truth is universal and eternal and the time of
exclusive beliefs, products of the Dark Ages of humanity, is long past.
It is clear that so far the Pope's apology is only meant to sidestep greater
criticism. It is more of a whitewash than a sincere plea for forgiveness that
a truly spiritual leader would ask for. Without bringing about an end to
proselytization that has caused most of these problems it means little.
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