Looking out my apartment window, I see the "Now Leasing" and American flags at half staff. They've been that way since Pope John Paul II's death on April 2. Anyone with his ear to the ground or his eyes on the news has noticed that the death of the pope has been the biggest news story in recent memory, even rivaling the death of our 40th American president, Ronald Reagan, last summer. The news has been very hard on some. Prayers have been said and tears have been shed. To those who have been affected by the pope's death, I give you this simple message: Get a grip.
The death of Pope John Paul II has brought to light the very hypocrisy of the papacy and those who claim to revere this beloved Catholic figure. It would be too easy to mock the pope and the Catholic Church for the theological aspects of the position held by the former Polish Cardinal Karol Jozef Wojtyla. (That being said, isn't it strange that the one person who can supposedly give his followers God's true word with infallibility is elected by fallible men with their own agendas? Isn't it strange that, according to papal electoral tradition, God only speaks to caucasian European men?)
Theological problems aside, student reaction to the pope's death has been staggering. To my surprise, the death of the pope really did have an effect on many students at American University (many of whom I thought were too cynical to buy into the papacy). Some are praising him as a spiritual leader. This is little more than posturing. Many of those who weep or mourn at the loss of this spiritual leader have proven themselves incapable of truly following the pope's spiritual advice. Americans and Western Europeans have long ignored the pope's decrees.
When outspoken conservatives on campus get caught with an anti-gay weblog or write an anti-gay-marriage piece in The Eagle, AU students cry foul. When the pope calls homosexuality an abomination, liberal Catholics look the other way. The same thing goes for Pope John Paul II's treatment of human sexuality. How many AU students and Americans at large mourning the death of the pope have engaged in premarital sex? How many have used birth control? How many can claim that they took whatever the infallible pope said to heart?
For this reason, Pope John Paul II's legacy is no different from the legacy of Princes William and Harry. We as Americans love pomp and circumstance, and we love outdated tradition. We watch the funeral processions of Princess Diana and Pope John Paul II and we marvel at the lavishness of it all. The question of whether a government or a church should be spending so much cash on a funeral is totally ignored.
The papacy, however, is far more insidious than all the royal families in Old Europe. While American and Western Europeans seem to delight in ignoring the pope, the same cannot be said of the poorer Catholics in the world. As Catholicism in Latin America and Africa grows at a tremendous pace, the pope has the newfound social responsibility to steer these new followers to spiritual salvation. The pope answered this call by using outright lies to prove a shaky theological point.
The pope, who as a Cardinal had written a text on the positive nature of human sexuality, transformed into one of the more anti-birth-control popes in this century. His outrageous claims that condoms actually help spread AIDS and that true Catholics could never use birth control are helping spread the pandemics of AIDS and starvation in the poorer parts of the world. Instead of helping these new Catholics lead better lives, the pope has overseen the destruction of the few places where his word is interpreted as God's truth. Pope John Paul II's cult of personality has led to undignified death, not to spiritual enlightenment.
Of course, Pope John Paul II has done some great things in his long life. His work against Communism and against religious intolerance was revolutionary. I thank him for it. But let's not forget how the pope's lies have killed a countless number of humans toiling in the third world. Let's not forget that the price of one of his fancy rings could feed a starving family for generations. Let's not forget that many young Catholics have long ignored the pope's words in favor of political correctness and what the pope would certainly consider mortal sin. I pray that AU students who mourn the pope as a world hero realize that, no, you can't have it both ways when it comes to matters of sin and world politics. One would hope that these students will re-evaluate their thinking and realize that affiliating oneself with the pope's actions may be, in actuality, a devil's bargain.
L. Russell Allen IV is a senior in the School of Public Affairs.
