04/02/2005, 00.00
VATICAN - RUSSIA
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The Pope and Russia, a failed dream

by Vladimir Rozanskij

Moscow (AsiaNews) – John Paul II's pontificate has often been compared to that of Pius IX. It, too, was long lasting, but the point of comparison is not length of time but historical context.

Both Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti and Karol Józef Wojtyła took over the reins of the Church at a time of exceptional social, cultural and spiritual upheaval, and both marked the life of Christendom and the history of world with their Magisterium.

Both raised hopes and generated hostilities in the world transcending ideological and confessional barriers going beyond partisan definitions. They opened up new possibilities with unusual charisma and boldness even for Roman pontiffs, who, after all, have the great privilege of divine assistance.

Above all, they were both very interested in the great Euro-Asiatic Empire of Russia, one in the 19th, the other in 20th century, an empire which played a central role in the politics and religious life of Europe and the world.

What brings the two together is failure; they both failed to draw Russia into the sphere of influence of the Catholic Church. For Pius IX this was to be accomplished by "bringing the dissidents back to the fold"; for John Paul II, it meant "rediscovering the Christian roots of Europe" from the Atlantic to the Urals.

In Russia, then and now, this offer of reconciliation and joining forces for the purpose of a new evangelisation was met by a disdainful rejection.

In the 19th century, the Tsars were not opposed to the papal plan but wanted Russia to take the leading role as befits the 'Third Rome'.

In the 20th century, the commissars, who for a long time underestimated the "Pope's divisions" (and carried out an atheist war against believers) only to surrender to troops of the Slavic Pope, were replaced by the leaders of a new Russia that still sought to reassert its 'anti-Roman' vocation in a new power struggle for the world's spiritual leadership.

And so John Paul II and Pius IX, despite the time they had at their disposal, failed, leaving unfinished the great plan to which they dedicated body and soul.

The evangelical plan and the wound

Karol Wojtyła's greatness does not lie in the victory over communism but in this defeat. The Pope's plan was always more evangelical and Christological than political and ideological. Even if he was quite aware of the political and historical nature of social relations, as evinced in his latest book Memory and Identity, he was not seeking a new world theocracy.

Instead, the Pope's plan could not be anything other than the plan of He who has served with his life and transformed the world for the glory of God.

He showed that the Church was, and is, indeed, the only vector for real change in the world, the true bastion defending what is human, the protector of life and liberty, the refuge for the oppressed and the persecuted, the critical conscience for every social project and its inevitable contradictions: all of this in the name of an absolute certainty—that of being in the divine truth with the ever new energy of the Spirit; yet retaining the fragility of humans who must choose the timing, ways and scope of their actions in the middle of the faithless paths of peoples, nations and states. Here, the right to be wrong was based on the infallibility of belief.

Everyone can see the resounding blindness that binds a century apart Pius IX and John Paul II. They both believed that a gesture of openness towards Russia would be enthusiastically reciprocated; instead, they found that the gesture itself was seen as a declaration of war.

Here again, history repeated itself even in the smaller details: solemn appeals and written pledges pro-union and ecumenism were made; the Slavic world and its Apostles were rediscovered (easier for a Polish Pope); double talk by Church and diplomatic apparatchiks (who more often than not skilfully and ambiguously sunk the best attempts at mediation) prevailed; different pretexts and even lies were found; acquiescence and formal respects were extended.

It is with this burden, heavy with failed hopes and dreams, human miseries and mystical prophecies, an explosive burden that scarred his body and deeply wounded his heart, that the Pope of the third millennium comes before his Lord. He comes with the humble bearing of a 'useless servant' and the just pride of the tireless missionary.

If prudence and traditional diplomatic restraint had governed John Paul II's action, as many counselled, and had he refrained from shaking the secular apathy of the Russian bear, perhaps he would have been able to show off the coveted medal commemorating his journey from Red Square (in Moscow) and the Winter Palace (in St Petersburg); perhaps he would have been able to solemnly embrace Patriarch Alexsij without making an enemy of him.

Had he done so, he would not have risked being seen as an invader and a propagandist of Western arrogance in the post-Communist war of civilisations.

Had he done so, he would not have sent bishops, priests and faithful unprotected into a country devastated by three generations of militant atheism and undergoing a process of spiritual reconstruction.

Yet, God's glory manifests itself in mysterious ways. John Paul II's greatness in his later years laid in his capacity to emulate Christ and carry His Cross in ways that only a Mel Gibson movie could portray.

Unity and Golgotha's dust

Disunity among Christians is reflected in the hostilities and divisions among peoples and nations and is one of the deeper wounds that scar the insulted and flagellated body of Christ

Overcoming this disunity is one of the goals of each papal, episcopal or ecclesial mission, a mission that requires above all the courage to be knocked around, to let wounds bleed and to mix the spilt blood with the dust of Golgotha.

John Paul II reached the apex of this mission when he identified in 2000 with the martyrs of the Coliseum, the Fathers of the authentic Church, the ones that gave life for Christ and received from Him the new light of resurrection.

Without Karol Wojtyła—and this is cast in the stone of human history—faith would not have been reborn in Russia and Eastern Europe, or at least not to its current extent.

His forced absence from Russia (a bitter chalice he has tasted to the fullest) has been more consequential than had he been there. Never have people talked so much about the relationship between a Roman Pope and Russia; never have people in Russia talked so much about the deeds of a Roman Pope.

Amongst fits and errors, dreams and attempts, one of the most intense relationship between a man and a people—or better still, a mosaic of peoples—, between a teacher and mass pf recalcitrant disciples, between a Father and an untold number of rebel children has unfolded.

John Paul II's fatherhood has been the greatest gift he has been able to give to those, regardless of age, sex, religion and social status, who live between the Atlantic and the Urals, the White Sea and the India Ocean.

John Paul II's successor, whoever he may be, will certainly visit Russia to the satisfaction of top prelates and devoted leaders and, no doubt, to that of many people of good will.

It will be a journey full of expectations and success; it will be praised in the West as much as in the East, and will lay the bases for possible unity among Christians in centuries to come.

Hymns of gratitude will rise to God, unforgettable speeches will be delivered, and solemn commitments made.

In the hands that will shake one another and in the lips that will graze one another the warm, thick and passionate blood of one man will flow, that of a Polish priest; his name: Karol Wojtyła, Servant of the Servants of God.

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