Reverential Treatment

The night before Pope John Paul II arrived this week in St. Louis, 500 Roman Catholic dissidents bundled themselves against the cold and listened quietly as a prayer leader intoned the names of saintly women of faith.

As each name was read--Mary Magdalene, Joan of Arc, Edith Stein, Mother Teresa--the crowd responded, “Pray for us.”

It was, Sister Louise Lears explained, not a protest rally but a candle-lit prayer meeting intended to quietly underscore the hope that their church will one day admit women to the Roman Catholic priesthood. John Paul has steadfastly said that the church has no authority to ordain women because Jesus did not choose women as his disciples.

“You might call it lovingly confrontational,” Lears told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The deferential tenor of her remark underscores a shift in the way American Catholics--even those who disagree with the pope--view him. In the twilight of an extraordinary and historic pontificate, John Paul has become something of a Teflon pope, both traditionalists and dissidents say. From this point on, they say, direct criticism of the pope is likely to be far more muted than it was early in his reign. Loving confrontation was about as disapproving as it got during John Paul’s just-completed--and perhaps last--journey to Mexico and the United States.

“He’s become a grandfather figure--and now a beloved grandfather figure,” said Dean Hoge, professor of sociology at Catholic University of America in Washington. “I think people will be more hesitant to criticize this man. He’s a hero and everyone knows he is a hero. President Clinton said it and everyone agrees. He is the hero of the 20th century.”

Of course, it doesn’t take a sociologist to see John Paul’s charisma at work. One need look only into the faces of the more than a million who turned out in Mexico City and St. Louis to catch a glimpse of the man whom Hoge calls “the No. 1 moral voice in the whole world.”

Gone for those poignant moments were controversies over women in the priesthood, married priests and issues of human sexuality that have preoccupied the church in the United States.

Present was the man they call the Vicar of Christ, El Papa, JP2, the once-vigorous and now stooped pontiff whose right hand quivers but whose spirit, they knew, has never faltered. He seemed to appeal to their deepest longings and highest aspirations. They cheered and sang and wept for joy.

“It’s a transcendent type of moment for them,” said Linda Pieczynski, president of the Chicago-based reform group Call for Action. “It’s an emotional connection with something bigger than themselves.”

Under the circumstances, Pieczynski and other liberal reformers said, it would be neither appropriate nor politically savvy to take on the pope.

“It would be silly to be highly critical,” said Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for a Free Choice, who for years has pressed for the rights of women in the church, including the right to choose an abortion. That is not to say that issues around women and sexuality have disappeared, she said. “But there’s always the recognition that when the pope is physically present, being critical is only going to be interpreted as raining on his parade. I think people were willing to let him have his parade.”

Indeed, if critics needed a reason to complain, the pope was as forceful as ever in St. Louis in speaking out against abortion.

“The new evangelization calls for followers of Christ who are unconditionally pro-life, who will proclaim, celebrate and serve the gospel of life in every situation,” John Paul declared.

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, the archbishop of Los Angeles, who was with the pope in Mexico City and St. Louis, said that despite the pope’s failing health he remained indefatigable in once again proclaiming his message.

“Even in the midst of obvious physical disability and some pain at times he is just resolute in his determination to keep the message coming forth boldly,” Mahony said.

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The fact that liberal reformers opted not to again challenge the pope’s position has not gone unnoticed by traditionalists, among them James Akin, senior apologist for Catholic Answers, a traditionalist group based in San Diego.

“There may be a reticence about dissidents to criticize the Holy Father while he’s in the country,” Akin said. “They would only damage their own credibility. They’re more likely to criticize him from afar than [put] their reputations on the line by criticizing him while he’s here.”

But Hoge suggests that the pope is entering a new phase of his pontificate during which critics will be circumspect, no matter where the pope is. “The people critical of his policies are actually keeping their mouths shut for the time being,” Hoge said.

One reason, they say, is that there is far more to this pope than his opposition to women priests, abortion and birth control. In fact, he is viewed by many politically liberal Catholics as an ally on issues such as the church’s attitudes toward the poor and its role in questioning the values of the marketplace.

“We should rejoice,” Hoge said. “Not every pope has been a progressive. This man is a progressive on a lot of topics.”

Kissling agrees. “There is so much more that he’s saying that is helpful, and my instinct is to be supportive, not critical.”

Indeed, Kissling seemed to delight in the thought that social conservatives who support John Paul on issues of human sexuality and internal church issues may be put off by his stands on economic issues.

“They may be scurrying a little bit to try and explain this pope,” she said with a laugh.

Another reason overt criticism may abate, they said, is simply that there is no budging John Paul on issues of concern to reformers.

“Everybody recognizes that it is absolutely futile to take him on on these issues. What we are trying to do is survive and hold on until [the next pope],” Pieczynski said. She and Kissling said Catholics are simply ignoring the pope’s positions on the issues on which they disagree while praising him for the man he is.

“Maybe it’s a time to say goodbye and thanks to someone who has done the best he could and stood by his principles,” Pieczynski said. “People admire that and we admire that, too.”