Pope John Paul II's Legacy at the Centre Stage of International Arena

By Shafquat Rabbee : When on October 16, 1978, Pope John Paul II emerged from the plume of white smoke above the roof of the Sistine Chapel and declared his accession to the supreme position of the Catholic Church, very few in the world could imagine that this man would also ascend to the center stage of international politics unparallel to any of his successors.

>From the recent war on Iraq to civil war in Bosnia, from the collapse of Soviet Union to political upheavals in Cuba, from reconciling past differences with Muslims to Jews, the papacy of Pope John Paul II, is simply hard to match with any other pope in the long history of the Catholic Church.

Although the power position of the Pope was never executive, but rather spiritual, Pope John Paul II never seized to assert his influence on matter as intricate as war, communism, human rights etc.

By visiting 118 countries of the world during his 26 year reign as the Pope, John Paul II has made his existence felt throughout the world, even in countries were Christians are bare minorities.

Despite the existance of theological and political differences between different denominations of the Christian church and world religions at large, the Pope's stance in favour of humanity and justice has given him the voice of a global spiritual leader, on whom majority of the world people could trust.

At the time when the "pre-emtive" war on Iraq was about to start, John Paul II emphatically stated that this war would be a "defeat for humanity which could not be morally or legally justified". "When war, as in these days in Iraq, threatens the fate of humanity, it is ever more urgent to proclaim, with a strong and decisive voice, that only peace is the road to follow to construct a more just and united society," John Paul said. "Violence and arms can never resolve the problems of man" he continued.

Throughout the entire duration of the U.S. led attacks on Iraq, Pope John Paul II spoke out almost every day against war and in support of diplomatic efforts for peace. John Paul II sent his personal representative, Cardinal Pio Laghi, who is also a friend of the Bush family, to remonstrate with the U.S. President before the Iraq war began. Pope's message to Bush was tantamount to saying "God is not on your side if you invade Iraq".

When the war in Iraq was deemed inevitable, Pope started to sympathize with the anti-war demonstrations that rocked the world capitals. Pope John Paul II said that the anti-war movement shows a "large part of humanity" has rejected war as a means of solving conflicts between nations". Pope termed the Iraq episode "a difficult moment in history".

The Pope said the world "once again is listening to the din of arms" and by now, he said, "it should be clear" that except for self-defence against an aggressor, a "large part of humanity" has repudiated war as an instrument of resolving conflicts between nations.

When sex abuse pictures of Iraqi prisoners were being released in the international media from the Abu Ghraib prison of Iraq, the Pope also intervened. During a face to face meet with President George Bush, the Pope referred to the sex scandal at the Abu Ghraib prison and termed the entire issue as "deplorable events," The Pope told Bush that "in the absence of a commitment to shared human values, neither war nor terrorism will ever be overcome".

Earlier in his career, Pope John Paul II established many milestones that bridged the gap between international politics and religious authority.

In 1979 John Paul II became the first Pope to set foot in the White House when he was greeted by the then US President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn. The meeting of the 39th President of the United States with the 264th Roman Pope had broken a 200-year-old tradition which had seen few US politicians publicly courting the Catholic Church.

During that visit to the US, the Pope was welcomed by nearly 7,000 US government and church dignitaries. President Jimmy Carter addressed John Paul II in Polish before he turned to the crowd and said "For those of you who may not speak Polish, that means 'May God be praised'."