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Press release 2 April 2005 Hanover/Rome
We are Church: A Pope and a Pontificate Full of Contradictions
The international reform movement We Are Church recognizes the remarkable global influence of Pope John Paul II in his long reign as Pope. We applaud his efforts to bring freedom to Poland, his homeland. We praise his openings to the Jewish community, and his strong efforts to overcome the sordid Catholic history of anti-Semitism. We welcomed his strong opposition to the death penalty, his overall support for social justice and his clear opposition to war, especially in Iraq. His “Mea Culpa”, reappraising the dark sides of Church history, was a courageous step. His compelling personality, and his reputation for personal piety can only be applauded.
However, his pontificate was full of contradictions. The direction in which he took the church internally was very distressing for those who had hopes for real reform. Unfortunately, even though he was a participant in the Council himself, John Paul II ignored pleas from the growing, worldwide movement of grassroots Catholics seeking to strengthen the spirit of openness and inclusion that began with the Second Vatican Council.
Although he was deeply committed to reform and dialogue in the world at large, he strengthened centralized, authoritarian structures within the Church itself. This fostered a climate of fear and rigidity. There was no willingness to enter a serious dialogue with “Vatican II Catholics” such as Catholic women seeking equality, reform theologians or the We Are Church movement. Theologies that grew from the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, like Liberation Theology, were systematically suppressed under this pontificate. A flood of canonical regulations and documents, especially during the second half of this pontificate, intensified church centralism. The constant selection of conservative bishops and cardinals reinforced these tendencies.
Human rights in the church John Paul II was an advocate of human rights in secular life, but he did not apply this belief to the church itself. Among the human rights still crying out for recognition in the church are: gender equality – including women’s ordination, the right of priests to marry, freedom of conscience and speech, the right to a fair trial, the right to be respected for one’s sexual orientation, and the moral adulthood of the laity in decisions regarding reproduction and the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV-AIDS. The paedophilia scandal exposed a major breach of human rights in the life of the church generally. Although John Paul II ultimately recognized it as a scandal, this scandal needed much stronger action at a much earlier time.
Ecumenism In the field of ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue, especially with the Jewish people, John Paul II took praiseworthy steps that were rightly applauded. However, they were followed by the anti-ecumenical document “Dominus Jesus“ and a strict “no” to shared communion with those of other Christian denominations.
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International Movement We are Church The international movement We are Church, founded in Rome in 1996, is committed to the renewal of the Roman Catholic Church on the basis of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and the theological spirit developed from it. We are Church evolved from the Church Referendum in Austria in 1995 that was started after the paedophilia scandal around Vienna’s Cardinal Groer. We are Church is represented in more than twenty countries on all continents and is networking world-wide with similar-minded reform groups. As international studies of renowned religion sociologists confirm, We are Church as a reform movement within the Church represents the ‘voice of the people in the pews’ and has demonstrated this in several Shadow Synods in Rome.
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