A chara, - I have been wondering how we would cope if we were to get 1 million, or 2 million, or 5 million visitors to Dublin at just a few days' notice. Judging from media reports, it seems that the people responsible for the administration of Rome and the Vatican did a quite incredible job: providing tented accommodation, complete with beds and bedding, food, and water, portable sanitary facilities, and first aid services, with a minimum of fuss. As well as this, there were the headaches of coping with traffic gridlock, and cleaning up the litter, and the disruption of financial life - and no doubt many other problems I haven't thought of.
And I'm sure they had to deal with many people who were disappointed at not getting to the ceremony, or who objected to the disturbance. The people who did all that in Rome and the Vatican deserve a Nobel Prize for something or another. Have we in Ireland some kind of similar plan to deal with such an event?
But there may be an even greater miracle. It was quite an achievement to get leaders of many world religions to come together in Assisi to pray for peace some years ago. But could anyone have anticipated a few months ago that the leader of the "Great Satan", and a leader of the "Axis of Evil", and the presidents of Israel and of the Palestinians, and Prince Charles and Robert Mugabe would sit down before the media of the world in the same gathering - for a prayer meeting? Of course, we may be realistic (or cynical), and dismiss it all as merely window-dressing, with "no political significance". This will depend on the decisions made by the people concerned in the coming months and years. And yet - it really happened.- Is mise,
Fr PÁDRAIG McCARTHY, Avoca, Co Wicklow.
Madam, - The article by Mark Almond of Oriel College, Oxford ("England embraces Catholic chic", April 6th), in which he charts what he supposes to be the "death" of "Protestant England", on account of Prince Charles's giving priority to the Pope's funeral rather than to his own marriage, is a glib and ephemeral analysis unworthy of your newspaper.
Rather more attention to simple historical facts would reveal that the welcome amelioration of relations between "Protestant England" and Catholicism rests almost wholly on one simple action by Pope John Paul himself. And nothing so undermines Mark Almond's article as his actual failure to give credit to the late Pope where it is here due.
One has to go back in various stages to realise the full import of what Pope John Paul achieved. Under Edward VI (1547-53) an extreme Zwinglian Protestantism came to apply in England, characterised above all by Cranmer's 1552 Prayer Book, in which the Eucharist became an unconsecrated act of simple memorial. Queen Elizabeth, by contrast, after the return to pure Catholicism under Queen Mary (1553-58), genuinely tried to reach an accommodation between Protestant and Catholic interests.
The Elizabethan Settlement of 1559, among other things, modified Cranmer's view of the Eucharist, introducing parallel Protestant and Catholic Words of Administration. What might have been achieved by Queen Elizabeth's 1559 vision of "parity of esteem", if it had been allowed properly to take root! For certainly, in it, there was no inherent hostility to Catholicism in its spiritual aspects.
But the 1582 papal bull Regnans in excelsis, in which the Pope laid claim to temporal authority in England, led to events such as the Throckmorton Plot (1583), the Spanish Armada (1588) and the Gunpowder Treason (1605). Because England felt itself politically threatened, there followed the disaster, for both Catholicism and England, of mutual suspicions and distrust; that was never in the real interests of either side.
Four hundred years after Regnans in Excelsis, Pope John Paul, on his visit to England, did a simple but profound thing in declaring that his mission was spiritual, not temporal. At a stroke the venom was drawn; and that, and that alone, is the reason for the consequent betterment of relations, and why Prince Charles could attach such importance to attending the Pope's funeral.
The momentousness of what Pope John Paul achieved in this respect brings to mind Vergil's memorable phrase laus illi debetur et. . . gratia maior ("praise is due to him, and very considerable gratitude"). - Yours, etc.,
Dr MARTIN PULBROOK, The Walnuts, Enniscoffey, Co Westmeath.
Madam, - I wish to thank you for your excellent coverage of the death of Pope John Paul II and in particular your editorial and Breda O'Brien's article "Preaching his most effective homily of all" (April 2nd). As she pointed out, if a novel had been based on his life it would have been regarded as unbelievable and nothing more so than his death on the eve of the feast of Divine Mercy which he instituted at the behest of St Faustina, whom he canonised.
Truth is certainly stranger than fiction and above all this Pope was the epitome of truth, which was probably the main reason why young people were so attracted to him. - Yours, etc.,
Mrs MARY STEWART, Ardeskin, Donegal Town.
Madam, - Watching the news on RTÉ last Friday night, I was struck by the number of ordinary people - young, middle-aged and old - who attended the funeral service for Pope John Paul II, and by and the humble simplicity and sincerity of the Pontiff's life. The next news item featured the over-fed, over-dressed delegates posing for the cameras at the start of the Progressive Democrats' conference. When interviewed, Ms Harney emphasised the Holy Father's continual condemnation of violence during his visit to Ireland. She neglected to mention his views on corporate greed and capitalism in the full sense, both of which are encouraged by the policies of our present Government.
She didn't mention what the late Holy Father would think of a Government, with more money than it can spend, which allows the sick and infirm to wait in long queues in hospital A&E departments, sometimes for days; cancer patients in the West and South unable to get treatment locally; people with neurological diseases, always critical and often fatal, who cannot get treatment because neither the medical staff nor the equipment are currently available in the country.
We have schools which are infested by rats, where indoor toilets have never been built. In the deprived areas of our cities children who cannot get necessary remedial help - which is available in countries much poorer than ours - consequently end up on the streets and become involved with drugs and crime. The parents and carers of handicapped people cannot get the necessary support and education for their children because the Government will not give adequate funds.
What else is this but violence against the person propagated by the followers of progressive democracy? What a contrast: the sincere crowds grieving for a gentle, caring father and the crass vulgarity of those posing for the cameras at a political conference. - Yours, etc.,
ANN BRADSHAW, Corballis, Co Dublin.
Madam, - Over four years ago I contacted the RE teachers in 52 secondary schools throughout the country to invite their students to send a gift of prayer to the late Holy Father to commemorate the 21st anniversary of his visit to Ireland. As he had spent roughly 52 hours in Ireland, the prayers of the pupils in each school represented one hour of his pastoral stay with us.
Some 6,500 pupils from all provinces signed petitions of prayer for the Pope and they were sent to him along with greetings in his native language (with the assistance of the Polish Embassy) via the Apostolic Nunciature where he stayed during his two-night stay in Ireland.
The Vatican's response to the student's gift of prayers spoke of the Pope being "deeply touched by this kindness, and his heartfelt thanks for their devoted gesture".
Quoting from his address at the Vigil of Prayer for World Youth Day in Rome on August 19th 2000, the Holy Father called on the Irish students to renew their baptismal commitment to Jesus Christ, "who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be ground down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal".
The letter to the secondary students called on them to engage with contemporary society and to give courageous and generous witness in responding to the call that the Lord had for each of them. The late Holy Father's response concluded by "entrusting you all to the protection of Mary, whose 'yes' made possible the coming into the world of the Saviour 2,000 years ago".
Rereading the Holy Father's reply after the news of his passing left me with the thought that here was the legacy that Pope John Paul II left the youth of Ireland and the rest of the world. - Yours, etc.,
FRANK BURKE, Synge Street CBS, Dublin 8.