Those hands opened to
everyone, sign of true witness
 |
| Pope John Paul II |
The centenary of the birth of St John Paul II, a Pope who
opened new pathways while navigating the way indicated by the Second Vatican
Council
By Andrea Tornielli
It was 27 October 1986 when recent history stood at a
dramatic juncture. The prospect of a nuclear war was real. Yet, St John Paul II
courageously convoked representatives of the world’s religions to Assisi, thus
conquering quite a bit of resistance, even within the Church. “The gathering
together of so many heads of religions to pray”, he said, “is of itself an
invitation to today’s world to become aware that there exists another dimension
of peace and another way of promoting it, that is not the result of
negotiating, of political compromises or economic haggling. Rather, it is the
result of prayer, which, even despite the diversity of religions, expresses a
relationship with a supreme power that surpasses our human capacity alone”. “We
are here”, Pope John Paul added, “because we are certain that there is the need
of intense and humble prayer, of confident prayer, if the world will finally
become a place of true and permanent peace”.
Let us celebrate this 18 May, the centenary of the birth of
this great Pontiff who came from behind the Iron Curtain, who during his long
Petrine ministry brought the church into the new millennium; who saw the Berlin
Wall fall that divided Europe in two; who hoped to see a new era of peace dawn
but who, in his elder years when he was dealing with illness, had instead to
face new wars and destabilizing and ruthless terrorism which uses God’s name to
sow death and destruction. To counteract this, he reconvoked the heads of the
world’s religions in Assisi in January 2002 without ever surrendering to the
ideology of the clash of civilizations, but focusing everything always, even
until the end, on the encounter among peoples, cultures, religions. He
witnessed to a rock-solid faith, the asceticism of a great mystic, an
overflowing humanity. He spoke to everyone and never left anything unattempted
in order to avoid the irruption of a conflict, thus favouring peaceful
transitions, and promoting peace and justice. He travelled far and wide across
the globe to embrace all the peoples of the world, proclaiming the Gospel. He
fought to defend the dignity of every human life. He paid an historica visit to
Rome’s Synagogoe. He was the first Pope in history to cross the threshold of a
mosque. He navigated along the way indicated by the Second Vatican Council. He
new how to open up new and unexplored paths, even to the point of stating that
he was disposed to discuss the way of exercising the ministry of Peter in
favour of the unity of Christians. His witness is as current as ever.
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