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Richard Littledale

Richard Littledale's
Views on the News: April 2005

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Signs of faith

wife and mother-in-law
wife and mother-in-law
What do you see when you look at the picture at the left? The picture is called 'my wife and mother-in-law' - which should give you a clue! Some see a hook-nosed old woman, in profile and facing directly to the left. Others see a young woman with a choker round her neck also facing left but looking away from the viewer. What do you see? The lines on the page are the same whichever you choose - its all in the eye of the beholder.

Now look at the picture below. What do you see? Of course, it is a photograph of Pope John Paul II, the beloved leader of millions of Roman Catholics around the world who died soon after this photograph was taken.


What do you see in the image, though? Some see an image of fortitude in the face of suffering, whilst others see humanity crushed beneath the weight of institution. Before his worsening condition robbed him of speech, the Pope said that he would no more step down from office than Christ would have stepped down from the cross. This could be interpreted either as an admirable devotion to duty, or an unhelpful comparison between a unique event and a historical tradition. If he had broken with tradition and resigned his office, many Roman Catholics would have regarded this as a failure, the Pope amongst them.
Pope at Easter 2005
Pope John Paul II at Easter 2005
(c) Copyright AFP

Those of us who are on the outside looking in to the agonising amongst Roman Catholics must be careful how we comment. The fondness we might feel for a local church leader is of a different order entirely to the devotion Catholics feel towards their figurehead. The concern on their faces as they waited for an Easter glimpse of him, even the words of the Cardinal whose message said that "Easter is not Easter without him", were perfectly genuine. We did not have to identify with them in order to believe them.

As Catholics watched and prayed, many Christian brothers and sisters of other traditions did so alongside them. As we remember Pope John Paul II, his manner of life and death, we should maybe reflect on our understanding of duty towards the church. Is it a binding commitment, come what may, or are we invaded by a consumer mentality which is more concerned with getting things out of the church than putting them in? Christian leaders who 'die in harness' may do so out of a mistaken sense of duty. Alternatively, it may be because there are not enough others to share the load…

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