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Memory and Identity
It was, therefore, with great hope that I picked up the book as soon as it was available in Chandigarh. I felt a little cheated when I realised that the book was based on a conversation the Pope had with some Polish philosophers at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo in 1993. It was apparent that the book was hastily put together to cash in on the world’s attention on the dying Pope. Having said this, I must also add that I found the book such a great read that I did not put it down till it was finished. Was it because I paid through the nose for this slim volume? No, it is because of the friendly, conversational style, the author (?) has adopted in the book. Each chapter begins with a question which the Pope seeks to answer. It is not necessary that the reader would find his answers convincing but the certitude with which he speaks is at once arresting. A postmodernist may have difficulty in appreciating, let alone understanding, his definition of evil and good, which are rooted essentially in human character. "Evil is always the absence of some good which ought to be present in a human being; it is a privation. It is never a total absence of good." From thereon, he questions man’s competence to decide by himself, without God, what is good and what is bad. The decision to annihilate a whole community by those who came to power in the Third Reich was one such decision. Even an admirer of the Pope like me feels extremely uncomfortable when he compares the "Final Solution" that Hitler attempted to the "legal extermination of human beings conceived but unborn". But, then, his intention was not to provide answers that you and I may find acceptable. Vast sections of the Catholics themselves found his position on abortion and artificial methods of family planning abhorrent but he persisted with them till the end. In the age of relativism, many find absolutism revolting. Undeterred by such thoughts, he had the courage of conviction to state his views. That is why his opinions mattered to the world. He deals with a whole lot of political, philosophical and theological issues in this book. Most of the examples he cites are drawn from Polish history, both modern and ancient. His patriotism is transparent but he also knows where to draw the line to separate it from nationalism, which brought more dangers to the world than any other ism. The Pope is on firm ground when he critiques communism, in the collapse of which he played a no less significant role. But when he compares it with Nazism, he is guided solely by the experience of his own Polish people. Can the Communists’ role in the defeat of Nazism be ignored? Imagine how the world would have been had Stalin’s army not entered Berlin forcing Hitler to commit suicide. He argues that the "West" could not have withstood "so great a trial" as communism because it does not have "force strong enough" to defend itself. The West might have saved itself from communism but it has no escape from forces that strike at the very foundations of human morality "influencing the family and promoting a morally permissive outlook: divorce, free love, abortion, contraception, the fight against life in its initial phases and in its final phase, the manipulation of life". Seen against this backdrop, the majestic Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals, the baroque basilicas, the paintings of Giotto, Fra Angelico, and the countless artists of the 15th and 16th centuries, the sculptures of Michelangelo, the dome of Saint Peter’s, and the Sistine Chapel that dot Europe appear no better than caricatures of its past glory. The invisible forces the Pope found at work in the West are at it in other continents as well, though they may not be as discernible. In the last chapter, the Pope’s secretary joins the conversation as he alone could describe the events after the Pope was shot at by Ali Agca. "Someone must have guided that bullet", the Pope says, as otherwise he would not have escaped the attempt of a well-trained assassin. The Pope attributes it to the "motherly protection and care, which turned out to be stronger than the deadly bullet". Whether one agrees with him or not, his answers to some of the most profound questions of theology, politics and philosophy reveal why John Paul’s papacy won world-wide admiration. |
PUBLISHERS can be deceptive. When this book came out
early this year, the Pope was on his deathbed. Many others like me would
have been amazed by his prolixity. They would have recalled his Crossing
the Threshold of Hope, which was an international bestseller.
