EVENTS

An activist Pope

JOHN CHERIAN

POPE JOHN PAUL II is an inveterate traveller. Although in frail health for the past several years, the pontiff has been keen to visit as many countries as possible. And he is not a man to shirk controversy, as his second visit to India showed. His visit to Cuba had come under strong criticism from influential sections of the Clinton administration and conservative groups in the United States.

Pope John Paul II has also been one of the most activist Popes of the millennium. His conservative agenda on social issues was evident from the very outset of his papacy. The accommodative worldview of his two immediate predecessors was noticeably absent in his initial statements and actions.

The campaign launched by John Paul II against the socialist countries of Eastern Europe contributed a great deal to the demise of the Eastern bloc. He was the inspiration for the Solidarity trade union movement, which eventually came to power in Poland. His overt and covert role in bringing about the downfall of the socialist government in Poland, his home country, is acknowledged today by the West.

The same Pope said in the late 1990s that the collapse of socialism was not entirely a good development and that unfettered capitalism had led to further deprivation for the poor of the world. In his encyclical, "Advent of the Third Millennium", the Pope made an impassioned plea to the international community to raise its voice for a substantial, if not an outright, cancellation of the international debt owed by poor nations to the developed world.

The Pope also took a tough stance against the proponents of Liberation Theology within the Catholic Church, who had sided with the peasants and the working class in Latin American and other Third World countries in their struggle against exploitation and authoritarian rule. The Pope's undisguised hostility towards the Sandinistas, who came to power in Nicaragua with considerable help from the radical sections of the Catholic Church, is an illustration. Radical priests and theologians have, on many occasions, been defrocked or sidelined because of their solidarity with the oppressed. This happened mostly in the 1970s and the 1980s when Latin America was in ferment.

After the end of the Cold War, the Pope mellowed considerably. In recent times the Vatican has been very critical of the U.S.-sponsored sanctions against countries such as Iraq and Cuba. The Pope, in fact, will be visiting Iraq before the year-end, much to the consternation of the Clinton administration.

V. SUDERSHAN
Inspecting a guard of honour at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

UNLIKE the Pope's earlier visit to India in 1986, the shorter visit this time was clouded by controversy orchestrated by a tiny minority. In the last year and a half, Christian-bashing has become popular in many parts of India. Sections of the Sangh Parivar have been trying to equate Christianity with conversion. The campaign against churches and foreign missionaries in the tribal areas of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa seems to have brought the Bharatiya Janata Party temporary political dividends in the form of parliamentary seats.

Fundamentalist Christian groupings, mainly the U.S.-based ones, added fuel to the fire by issuing incendiary statements on the issue of conversions in India. The killing of Christian missionaries only fuelled their messianic zeal.

Hindu fundamentalist groups opposed to the Pope's visit had earlier threatened to disrupt the Pope's schedule in New Delhi. But in the end better sense prevailed, with the Government taking a tough stance against them.

However, the ham-handed way in which the Government initially behaved has left a bad taste. The Government saw it fit to convey to the Vatican only a week before the Pope's arrival that Vice-President Krishan Kant would not attend the inter-religious meeting that was to be held in Delhi on the last day of the visit. The reason given officially was that it was not in the fitness of things that the Vice-President of a secular republic participate in what was essentially a religious meet. Precedents and the fact that the Pope has the diplomatic status of a head of state were conveniently forgotten. Another reason being trotted out by officials is that the Dalai Lama could have attended the all-religion meet and this would have been embarrassing for the Indian Government.

Otherwise, the Pope was accorded all diplomatic courtesies. He met President K.R. Narayanan, Krishan Kant and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. According to a press release issued by the Information Bureau of the Catholic Archdiocese of Delhi, the "climate of the meetings was cordial and the three Indian leaders showed great respect for the Pope".

The President recalled the Pope's first visit to India in 1986. Both the President and the Pope remembered Mother Teresa. Narayanan nostalgically recalled the occasion of his visit to Calcutta and seeing first-hand Mother Teresa's work among the poorest of the poor. He told the Pope that as a child he had studied in a Catholic school in Kerala.

Vajpayee and the Pope exchanged views on important issues. The Prime Minister briefed the Pope on the geopolitics of the region. Vajpayee thanked the pontiff for his message on the cyclone tragedy in Orissa. (The Pope has announced an aid of Rs.1.5. crores for the cyclone victims.)

During his four-day visit, the Pope avoided saying anything that would have embarrassed the Indian Government. Some people had expected him, given his outspoken ways, to comment on the atrocities against Christian missionaries.

But the Pope's emphasis on the inherent right to preach the Christian gospel, coupled with his stated hope that Asia would be a fertile field to spread Christianity, has angered the fundamentalist groupings and sections of the Central Government. According to reports, Home Minister L.K. Advani has sought a detailed report on the Pope's visit. The Home Ministry feels, without giving reasons, that the Pope's statements have the potential to add to communal tensions. The Delhi Police had initially demanded Rs.2.5 crores from the Catholic Church for the security arrangements made for the open-air mass held by the Pope in Delhi. At the last hour, the Home Ministry intervened and the demand was withdrawn.