The Death of the Pope

The death of Pope John Paul II was a great loss for the world. This was a man who did a lot of great things in his time as Pope, and was probably the single biggest factor in humanizing the Catholic Church.

The death of Pope John Paul II was probably one of the best things that could have happened to Poland.

Poland is a land of Catholic Church dominance. Priests hold sway in society, enjoying great respect and abusing that respect freely. Everyone knows that the Church in Poland is corrupted, and no longer deals exclusively with the health of human souls. It gets into politics, economics, and business. Even though everyone knows this, one will not find a single person in the country who will speak of this in any other way but with hushed voice, and furtively looking around. When I clearly and loudly speak my mind on the subject, people get nervous.

Where does this dominance come from? Poland has a long history of Catholicism, dating all the way back to the foundations of the country in 966 AD. Throughout history, through all the wars, the strife, and the divisions of the country by surrounding empires, the Church has persevered. It has always been a solid foundation to which Poles could turn in times of their greatest need. This was also the case throughout the post-WWII era. Pope John Paul II fought the communist occupation, spoke out against it, and supported the Polish Church throughout the period. Poland was one of the few countries behind the Iron Curtain that had no restrictions on religious activity. The Russians knew that this would spell open rebellion, and desisted.

So why is this a bad thing? It's not. The consequences are what's bad. The Church has had such a good run in this country without any competition that it has gotten fat and bloated. As with any monopoly, effort to improve and provide an attractive product declines with lack of competition. The result here is widespread corruption and the taking for granted of the Church's position. Having a Polish Pope didn't help matters. It excused the priests, because they had full support from the Vatican. They could do no wrong, because the Pope was Polish, and was great.

An entire generation of Poles grew up knowing only the Polish Pope. They identified the Church with the Pope. Now, that is no longer possible. They will have to evaluate the Polish Church on the basis of its own merits and actions. The Church itself will no longer have a free hand, and will start getting questioned when its decisions are too suspect.

The death of the Pope is the first step to a recovery of Poland's identity. The country where the Church pays no taxes, gets government donations, and rips off the poor and gullible, will finally have a chance to stand on its own two feet and put the Church back into perspective. This will be a long process, and not always a clearly improving one, but it has begun. The local priest driving a Mercedes S class to mass will hopefully disappear, an unfortunate side effect of events in the past.