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Cuba's
Cardinal Analyzes Impact of John Paul II's
Pontificate
ZENIT
- The World Seen From Rome. November 24,
2003.
"An Effort to Take History Out
of Its Inertia"
HAVANA, NOV. 24, 2003 (Zenit.org).- Cardinal
Jaime Ortega Alamino, archbishop of Havana,
assessed the 25 years of John Paul II's
pontificate by describing it as "a
colossal effort to take history out of its
present inertia."
In this interview with Spanish Radio-Television,
the Cuban cardinal also analyzes the repercussions
of John Paul II's visit to Cuba.
Q: Eminence, could you give an assessment
of John Paul II's papacy?
Cardinal Ortega: It is not possible in
a few minutes to refer to John Paul II's
extraordinary pontificate, the best-known
Pope in history, the most seen, the one
who has gone around the world in over 100
trips to different countries, whose messages,
encyclicals, homilies and addresses fill
dozens and dozens of books; a Pope of profound
thought, of great heart, a man of prayer
who at the same time engages in untiring
activity, overcoming the obstacles of illness,
of physical pain, and of the sorrows he
bears as universal Father because of the
evils that afflict the men and women of
today.
Pope John Paul II will go down in history
as a fighter, as a firm and courageous witness
of Jesus Christ during a period when the
world has fallen prey to false ideologies.
This confusion arose primarily from the
frustration and suspicion of the long period
of the Cold War that has resulted in calculated
indifference in the new generations.
John Paul II has not ceased to proclaim
to the world the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
He has not ceased to confront the wall of
indifference to the hunger and malnutrition
of so many human beings, to address the
devastating action of poverty, drought,
AIDS, especially in Africa.
He has not ceased to awaken the consciences
of the contented on earth to a solidarity
with the dispossessed worldwide. Popes have
always talked on a world scale, but John
Paul II has done so to a world in the process
of globalization, technically intercommunicated,
but lacking in vital, human, solidaristic
communication.
John Paul II's pontificate is a colossal
effort to take history out of its present
inertia.
Q: What contribution has John Paul II made
to the social doctrine of the Church?
Cardinal Ortega: Let's begin by saying
that a lexicon has been published of the
social doctrine of John Paul II; because
not only in his great encyclicals, such
as "Centesimus Annus" or "Sollicitudo
Rei Socialis," but in many addresses,
homilies and different talks of the Pope,
there are constant references to different
aspects of the social doctrine of the Church.
The world is used to hearing a language
on man and society that focuses on individual
rights, on freedom and democracy with little
or no reference made to the just distribution
of wealth or social care of citizens. Yet,
great emphasis is placed on sharing the
goods of the earth and on attaining widespread
social justice. However, in practice, the
individual's human rights are forfeited
and an authoritarian state carries out its
social program.
The social doctrine of the Church is integrating,
and its projection can be summarized in
words taken from Pope John Paul II's homily
in Revolution Square in Havana on January
25, 1998: "For many political and economic
systems prevailing today, the greatest challenge
continues to be to be able to combine freedom
with social justice, freedom with solidarity,
so as not to relegate any one of these to
an inferior plane. In this connection, the
social doctrine of the Church aspires to
illuminate and conciliate relations between
the inalienable rights of every man and
social needs, so that the person will attain
his most profound aspirations and integral
fulfillment."
Q: What has been his role in the post-Cold
War historical processes?
Cardinal Ortega: With the end of the Cold
War, the world has tended to stagnate. There
are those who speak of the end of history.
Pope John Paul II has invigorated the period
of transition between the end of a millennium
and the beginning of another through the
latent energies in the Gospel. He calls
Christians to a new evangelization of the
world and invites all peoples to open their
doors to Jesus Christ.
In the post-Cold War historical processes
in Eastern Europe, in Cuba, and in every
other part of the world, the Pope has not
ceased to propose dialogue as the way to
solve conflicts, even when this calls for
reconciliation and forgiveness. And, in
face of the great economic challenges that
have repercussions on the social life of
peoples, the Pope urges a solidarity that
takes the weakest into account.
Q: What is your assessment of John Paul
II's [1998] visit to Cuba?
Cardinal Ortega: It was one of the most
anticipated visits by the Pope and the world,
and one of the most followed by the media.
Focused in a political way by many, it was
perceived by some as the meeting between
John Paul II and Fidel Castro, and by others
as the presence in a country of the former
Communist orbit, of the most outstanding
representative of the values of the Christian
faith. Political expectations arose among
observers.
It was a long-awaited pastoral visit both
by the Pope and by Cuban Catholics, a meeting
of the universal Pastor with that part of
the flock that lives in Cuba, and so the
Pope came, he confirmed the bishops in their
mission, he met with families and young
people, with the sick and with the world
of culture, and he left a trail of light
and hope in Cuban Catholics and in our nation
in general, so that the Church received
a new and lasting impetus in its mission.
As these were our expectations, they were
amply fulfilled. Expectations of a political
kind, however, not being well founded, were
frustrated.
Q: What problems will John Paul II leave
pending to his successor?
Cardinal Ortega: Every period will have
its problems and what today is seen as such,
tomorrow is modified by different circumstances.
The next Pope will also have the grace of
God to address the problems he encounters
or those which are generated in his time;
but these cannot be described today, as
each problem depends on the time in which
it develops.
Q: John Paul II has been the most visible
Pope. He has stretched the boundaries of
the Church to the ends of the world. But
his moral doctrine has been contested or
ignored in the West. Is the Catholic Church
being perceived as an exacting Church in
the moral order and, consequently, as a
Church of minorities?
Cardinal Ortega: Let's not forget that
the Pope's moral doctrine includes above
all the service of love to one's neighbor,
the struggle against personal or group egoism,
and the constant call to solidarity. Christian
morality is challenging also in these aspects.
Let us not reduce morality to its sexual
aspects, to the marital relationship.
Our world is not wicked; it doesn't reject
some moral doctrines because it has made
a choice for evil or corruption; rather,
it is a frail world, the men and women of
today have submerged themselves in a multiple
sensorial reality that entices them.
Faced with statistical or psychological
interpretations of what is right or acceptable,
there is a loss of the sense of what is
true. We are before a human being who is
apparently well informed, but with very
little formation.
One cannot be silent in face of this crisis.
The truth must be proposed over and over,
even if it seems that few accept it, even
if they reject, to a greater or lesser extent,
the obligations it entails.
There have always been few who accept fully
Jesus' message and its obligations in social,
political, family and personal life.
The Church has always acted like the man
who throws a stone in stagnant waters and
produces a movement of concentric circles
which unfold from a focal point to the periphery.
The smaller circles closer to the place
of impact receive it more fully, but there
is an influence that reaches to the border.
The Pope knows this, he acts like this,
and the Church will continue to act like
this too. It is the style of Jesus' parables:
the grain of mustard that produces a great
bush, the handful of leaven that ferments
the dough. Jesus' message is always one
of impact on minorities and of universal
influence.
Q: Wojtyla has changed the figure of the
Pope. What qualities must his successor
have?
Cardinal Ortega: Those proper to his priestly
personality, his spirituality, his way of
being a pastor. No one will be able to imitate
Pope John Paul II, and no one will attempt
it.
The brilliant papacy of Pius XII seemed
irreplaceable and John XXIII gave his pontificate
his own stamp of simplicity and affection.
John Paul II's successor will be very different
from him, but I am sure that he will always
be the man that God wills for that particular
time in the history of the Church and of
humanity.
[Transcription issued by "Ecclesia
in Habana"; adapted slightly here]
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Inc.
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