John Paul II, 1978-2005: The Last Anti-modern Pope

His was a Church of saints set against the powers of evil: first Soviet communism, then the civilization of money, sex, and the “liberty that enslaves.” An assessment by an historian of the papacy, Giovanni Maria Vian

by Sandro Magister
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ROMA, April 3, 2005 – He was the last anti-modern pope. He was extremely modern in style, this man who was such a master of the media limelight and its languages. But he was an unyielding enemy of the spirit of the times. For him they were apocalyptic times, in the sense of revelatory times. In the Holy Year of 2000, that great Jubilee that was his very own brainchild, he presented the cosmic drama he wanted to show the world on stage between Fatima and the Colosseum. It was the drama of a modern Babylon that persecutes Christian martyrs. And this martyred but still living pope was at the head of the army of saints.
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In June 1991 John Paul II returned to his native Poland for the fourth time. The Wall had fallen, the soviet empire was in pieces. But the pope refused to celebrate. On the contrary, he had never before shown such angry with his compatriots. He gave a number of impromptu speeches, and from these words that were not recorded in writing, that were not filtered through diplomacy, his real thoughts burst forth. For example these, transcribed from an unofficial speech in Wloclwec:

“Giving in to desire, to sex, to consumption: that is the Europeanism that some supporters of our entry into Europe think we should accept. But we mustn’t become part of that Europe. We were the ones who created Europe, and with much more effort than those who claim exclusive rights to Europeanism. What is their criterion? Freedom. But which freedom? The freedom to take the life of an unborn child? Brothers and sisters, I protest against this concept of Europe held by the West. And this message must be shouted loudly from this land of martyrs. Europe is waiting for redemption. The world needs a redeemed Europe.”

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