Pope Exalted At WYD?

PrinceJeff · Aug 21, 2002

I got this article from a fundamentalist website and wanted to hear your thoughts on it. Do people actually love Pope John Paul II that they would do this? I hope you don't mind me asking!

POPE EXALTED AT WORLD YOUTH DAY. Friday Church News Notes, July 26, 2002 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org) - A gravely ill Pope John Paul II is making what is possibly his last attendance at World Youth Day. This gathering of Catholic young people is being held this year in Toronto, Ontario. I listened to the opening ceremony on July 25, and one of the young people who was chosen to give a welcoming speech to the pope called him "Holy Father" and "Your Holiness" and stated, "You are our compass when we need guidance; you are our luminous beacon of hope in a world of darkness." This is blasphemous language. These things can be said in truth only of Jesus Christ. He alone is our compass and beacon of hope. God alone can be called Holy Father. After the pope left the gathering in the pope mobile, the young people crowded around the chair in which he had sat to give his speech, kissing and rubbing it, some of them weeping. John Paul II started the World Youth Day gatherings 17 years ago. This year's attendance of about 200,000 is much smaller than in previous years.

I am not endorsing this article in any way obviously. Please do not hurl flaming cantulopes at me!

isshinwhat · Aug 21, 2002

"You are our compass when we need guidance;

As the shepard of the Catholic Church, John Paul II is our compass and assurance of orthodoxy.

you are our luminous beacon of hope in a world of darkness."

We are all called to be light unto the world, and given JPII's world presence, I would say he is a strong witness to what faith in Christ can accomplish. Given all of that, calling him a beacon of hope isn't bad at all, I don't believe.

After the pope left the gathering in the pope mobile, the young people crowded around the chair in which he had sat to give his speech, kissing and rubbing it, some of them weeping.

Acts 5:14-16

And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

Acts 19:11-12Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul,<SUP> </SUP>so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.

Do people actually love Pope John Paul II that they would do this?

YES!!!!

As for calling John Paul II Holy Father, we've all seen Paul call himself Timothy's spiritual father. This is the same sense that John Paul is a father to Cathoilcs everywhere. If they have a problem with the term Holy before it, Mark 6:20 calls John a "holy man," so I really don't see the difference. If John Paul is a holy man and a father to many, then he is a holy father. The reason it is capitalized is ths same reason we capitalize the "P" in Pastor John. It is a title indicative of one's ministry.

Hope this helped,

Neal

ZooMom · Aug 21, 2002

I'm with Neal.

Nothing those young people said or did bothers me, and shouldn't bother anyone else when understood in the proper context.

:wave:

VOW · Aug 21, 2002

You can put my in the "Yea" vote column.

If the Fundamentalist Baptist Information Service wants to decry idolatry, I suggest they see what "groupies" do with the music industry stars.

I doubt that people threw underwear and hotel keys at His Holiness.

Peace be with you,
~VOW

Wolseley · Aug 21, 2002

David Cloud again. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

"You are our compass when we need guidance; you are our luminous beacon of hope in a world of darkness."

Well, whose moral compass would Mssr. Cloud rather have young people follow: the Pope's, or maybe somebody like Bill Clinton's? Or Britney Spears'? How about Howard Stern's?

Give me a break. The Pope is practically the last major voice left in the world telling people that there are absolute moral standards that must be adhered to, and all this guy can do is whine and bleat about the fact that kids look up to him for it. Get a life.

nyj · Aug 21, 2002

Originally posted by PrinceJeff
Do people actually love Pope John Paul II that they would do this?

Actually do what? Weep when he drives by them? Well, I can't speak for anyone else but I wept when he drove by me at WYD... it was a mixture of emotions... part being sorrow because I knew he was suffering, and part being joy because I was in the presence of someone truly holy (I would probably weep if I could actually meet St. Paul or St. Peter and I will absolutely sob when I meet Jesus).

How can I compare my feelings for the Holy Father of the Church Militant? I'll shed as many tears for him at his passing than I would for any of my own immediate family at their passing (God forbid). He's a man I've never gotten closer than ten feet too and have never had a direct conversation with, but he is that integral of a figure in my life.

KC Catholic · Aug 21, 2002

Originally posted by VOW
I doubt that people threw underwear and hotel keys at His Holiness.

Peace be with you,
~VOW

Well.....I did and got arrested!

I can't believe these people. Do we not have enough to do that we have to pick apart WYD and the Pope?

I think they just suffer from "Pope Envy". I am serious, what other church has a leader like JPII? I was touched just reading NYJ's and Pax's accounts of seeing him and chanting "WE LOVE JPII" and to hear he responded with "JP loves you, too!" Heck I got a lump in my throat and I was no where near the procession!

Kids nowadays want and crave love, sincere love from the adults and its a wonderful testament to have the Pope spending time with the kids.

 

pax · Aug 21, 2002

Seriously, that is one of the most pathetic things I have heard in my entire life... You'd think the person who wrote the article would have better things to do than to criticize young people for wanting to see the earthly leader of their Church and thanking him for what he has done for youth and for the entire world. This Pope has done so very many things that I look up to him for.

Long Live the Pope!!!

VOW · Aug 21, 2002

To Pax:

Pope JohnPaul II is an incredibly gifted, educated, and humble man. We are so blessed to have his guidance, and I pray God will allow us to keep him a little while longer. However, his frail body is just wearing out, and I'm sure that he will soon be going to his Heavenly home.

Peace,
~VOW

PrinceJeff · Aug 21, 2002

I think kissing and rubbing his chair is a little melodramatic, but I have great respect for the Pope. It takes great sacrifice to do what he has done over 25 years. With all due respect, he is still a human like you and I are. I'd never kiss Jerry Falwell's chair. :sick:

ZooMom · Aug 22, 2002

Jeff this really isn't directed at you, hon, even though you just said it but it is something that really baffles me.

WHY do people feel the need to continuously remind Catholics that the Pope is 'just a human like you or me'????? Have Catholics ever claimed he was not? Have we given the impression that we think he is more than human? Does no-one ever consider that our great love and respect for our Pope actually *stems* from the fact that he is human 'just like us'? That he shows us what a life lived for Christ is really like and makes our excuses nothing? That he carries his burdens and afflictions with humility, and joy, and even humor, because he is doing the God's work and won't rest from it even to spare his own body?

I love John Paul. I also love Mother Theresa, who was another shining example of Christ's Light in the world. Would to God that we all could be more like them.

PrinceJeff · Aug 22, 2002

I have gotten that impression in a way. I am sorry if that is the wrong way to feel, but maybe it's the Protestant in me.

If I may be permitted some humor here, do you think Jerry Falwell could fit into one of those robes? He'd look goofy with that hat on.

I agree that Mother Theresa was a wonderful woman of God. And if I lived my life closer to hers or Karol Wojtyla's (sp?), I would be one heckuva blessed person!

niwde · Aug 27, 2002

JP2 is a great guy
i wonder how he could have endured the 3 hour mass
besides that he presided it
isn't that god's grace

kissing his chair is kinda absurd,i dun think the chair is holy
but touching it is different
like the feeling of touching the wailing wall in jerusalem
when i touched it i try to imagine that i am touching the marks of thousands of pass people touching it
the wall i touched is the wall jesus may have seen in his life time
it is beyond words
kissing the ring is also another thing
i dun think all ppl get a chance to kiss it
unless u r a cardinal

i think nobody can actually talk bad about him
for a catholic he is a great leader and vicar of jesus
visible head of the catholic church
for a democrats he is a great guy who played an important role in the fall of communism in russia
for me he is the man
probably the best after God and mary
an old man with a strong voice of peace

GOD SAVE OUR POPE

JP2 I LOVE U

Pope Exalted At WYD?

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