STATEMENT FROM THE BISHOP OF EBBSFLEET

POPE JOHN PAUL II

HE DEATH of His Holiness Pope John Paul II, after a courageous and exemplary living out in his own life of the mystery of the Passion of Christ, has left the world with an immeasurable legacy. History will surely show the profound contribution the Pope made to the dismantling of the Iron Curtain and the bringing about of the end of the Cold War. The Polish people, in particular, are in his debt. History will also show that it has been the Pope's authority and charisma which have most ably resisted the onslaught of secularization on traditional Christian beliefs and values, particularly in Western Europe. Evidence of this has been not only the formidable amount of Catholic theology emanating from the Holy See, including, notably, social theology and a distinctive exploration of the human person and of the family, but also the élan and energy of the Pope's countless missionary journeys.

Pope John Paul II has had his critics: he has been blamed for being conservative doctrinally and morally and for maintaining a highly centralised authority structure. There are those who would have wished to see more devolution to the dioceses and the lack of this has been to the detriment, some would say, of the notion of subsidiarity, itself an influential Catholic idea. Yet it will be said equally that, amidst fragmentation and the contradictory currents of post-modernism, only a strongly centripetal authority could have sufficed to maintain the visible unity of the Roman Catholic Church, amidst the trials she has faced in the twenty-six and a half years of this pontificate.

Anglicans have particular reasons for being grateful to Pope John Paul II. He has articulated for us an orthodox and vigorous account of traditional Christian belief and warned us of some of the dangers of doctrinal innovation. He has been generous in welcoming former Anglican clergy into the Roman obedience and supportive and understanding of those who remain separated from the Holy See. Most of all, despite his unrealised ambition finally to bring together Christians of East and West in one Communion, he has been truly a pope for all Christians, a leader for people of faith everywhere and a father to all nations.

May this great and holy man rest in peace and pray for us all in Paradise as, his suffering over, he shares in the victory of Christ's glorious resurrection.

+ Andrew Ebbsfleet
Bishop's House, Dry Sandford
The Eve of the Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday, 2nd April 2005

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The Bishop of Ebbsfleet
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