Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Examples speak louder than words and it is a great example that Pope John Paul II has set by choosing to speak in the voice of Galileo. The most quotable part, perhaps, of the latest encyclical to emanate from the Vatican is an emphatically approving quotation of the words of the 17th-century astronomer who faced the sacred rage of the Church for his discovery of the place of the Earth in the vast universe.
Nothing illustrates better the import of the title of the extraordinary encyclical from an extraordinary Pope Fides et Ratio Faith and Reason.
The two decades of his papacy, being recalled in the Vatican and the world over today, have been marked by events that point to the inevitability of such dialogues that were once considered as futile as those of the deaf and the dumb. The period has witnessed the end of an age and the emergence of another. The author of the encyclical has himself played an activist role in the first, without that becoming a factor against his important part in the second.
The Pope from a Poland of struggling Solidarity did not conceal his sympathies against totalitarianism in East Europe. But, the collapse of the Soviet-led socialist world has not prevented him from defying another kala pani8217;convention and travelling to Fidel Castro8217;s Cuba and counsel against its ostracisation without compromising on any tenet of faith. It was a dialogue, again, that he opened by acknowledging the folly of the Church8217;s silence over the Holocaust, denying fascism the forgiveness it can never deserve.
The controversy will continue over his attitude to changes urged by would-be reformers within the Church. The fact, however, remains that his no-change stance has not detracted from his appeal to the youth, amply demonstrated on his tours abroad. The answer to the paradox may well be provided by the spirit of dialogue that he has come to symbolise in a significant measure.
What the encyclical calls for is, of course, no off-the-cuff comment, but a learned commentary of the kind that theologians may come up with in due course. Notable, meanwhile, is a reported observation of Pope-watchers: that the document shows a greater readiness to engage in dialogue with other cultures and philosophies as well.
Theencyclical has even quotes from Buddhist texts. Inter-religious communication is an object devoutly to be desired for in several parts of the world, where the alternative has proved unacceptably tragic. The special relevance of the call to India today is too striking to need stressing.
