Madam, - In common with many I regard Fintan O'Toole as one of the most significant, insightful and impassioned voices in Irish society. It is precisely for at reason that, with great reluctance, I have to express regret at the superficial nature of his commentary on the passing of the late Pope John Paul II (Opinion, April 5th) - an analysis which is surprisingly shallow and, ironically, reflects precisely the paradox of opposition within which he seeks to frame the Pope's actions and legacy.
The employment of the word "empire" carries with it conscious overtones of dominion, force and subjugation - overtones which are rendered explicit in his faintly ludicrous comparison between the late Pontiff, Stalin and Constantine. But Mr O'Toole either fails to comprehend, or refuses to acknowledge, that the form of the "authoritarianism" which he sees as the common bond between all three is in fact what distinguishes them. The coercive authority which was "enjoyed" by the Polish Communist party was clearly of a different order from the authority conferred on a Pope by the voluntary deference to his status by the willing actions of the faithful.
This form of deference is, of course, inexplicable, indeed disturbing, to those who (for their own valid reasons) refuse to metaphorically "bend the knee" - but coercive it certainly is not. One suspects that it is the enthusiastic global manifestation this week of the sincere faith of those who are so inclined, even more than the ideas of the man whose memory they honour, that is the real cause of Mr O'Toole's discomfiture.
May I go further and respectfully suggest that it is Mr O'Toole who, on this occasion, finds it necessary to revisit the past - implicitly the "Catholic Ireland" of his youth which is no more - to conjure up ghosts to scare the living? For good or ill (and there are people of good will on both sides of that division of opinion) the Roman Catholic Church is evidently neither a dead global empire, nor, in Ireland, the power it once was; and I can think of no better proof of those facts that it can provoke good journalists to write bad articles. - Yours, etc.,
GABRIEL DOHERTY, Spring Road, Riverway South, Cork.
Madam, - My congratulations to The Irish Times for two articles of unusual quality on the occasion of Pope John Paul's death.
John Waters (Opinion, April 4th) had the courage to try to and make a serious and original analysis of this great man's interaction with the erstwhile "young people of Ireland". Coming from one with all the credentials to represent that group, it is something of real value, and I believe he produced one of the most heartfelt and intelligent of the many articles I have read about the Holy Father's message, touching one of the essential values of his rich legacy in a profound way .
The contrast between his views and the monotonously uniform commentaries of the international media, aped ineptly by local journalists here, made his contribution doubly welcome. At last: a journalist who has heard for himself and actually understood something of the Pope's message, and is not simply rehashing the copy of his companions.
Most of what I have read has simply reflected the view of those whose sincere appreciation for the person of John Paul is clouded by the self-righteous religion of political correctness, with its automatic genuflections to the dogmas of abortion, homosexuality and contraception, the "alternative Holy Trinity for the church of the self" as Mark Steyn aptly puts it, in an article which complements Mr Waters's.
I have been wondering what experience or reflection brought about the change in Mr Waters's view of life, apart from the humbling effect of banging his nose against the unmerciful limits of reality both personal and common, like the rest of us. And I hope he will find the time and energy to develop the threads of those reflections so that he can pass them on to some of that unfortunate contemporary "youth of Ireland" that I have met in my infrequent visits "home": a youth that "enjoys" much greater opportunities than we ever dreamed of when growing up in post-war Ireland, yet seems to have lost its way, and is not really enjoy anything at all. - Yours, etc.,
FINTAN LAWLESS, São Paulo, Brazil.
Madam, - It was appropriate that Fintan O'Toole's column of April 5th opened with a quote from Thomas Hobbes. Thoughtful students of political philosophy have long understood that Hobbes in the 17th century, like Rousseau in the 18th century, provided with the Leviathan and the General Will the intellectual roots of 20th-century totalitarianism.
Significantly the "empire" which John Paul led was a major opponent of that totalitarianism. Furthermore, it continues to resist the current softer democratic totalitarianism, which asserts that the market and the state should be the ultimate determiners of right and wrong. - Yours, etc.,
JOHN P. McCARTHY, Professor Emeritus of History, Fordham University, New York, USA.
Madam, - Cardinal Cahal Daly, quoting the Vatican II theologian Yves Congar, describes Pope John Paul II as possessing "prophetic strength" (The Irish Times, April 4th). I strongly disagree.
Pope John Paul II had admirable human qualities. He showed exceptional strength, perseverance and determination in the face of both Nazi and Communist oppression. He had intelligence, charisma and a particular kind of religious certainty. In sickness he showed great courage.
On the world stage he achieved good. He played a major part in the liberation of his native Poland and the decline and fall of repressive Communism.
But Pope John's Paul's career has also had dangerous defects. Having battled against political totalitarianism he actively presided over a creeping totalitarianism within the Catholic Church that almost destroyed national churches and left a nearly all-powerful Roman Pope and Curia dictating to the whole Catholic world, in direct contravention of the Gospel and authentic tradition. The Bishop of Rome - like Peter, who was overruled by the whole church at Antioch - should be the first among equals. Today, assisted by his curial lieutenants, he is the virtual bishop of every diocese in the world, while local bishops are at best auxiliaries and at worst curates and messenger boys. In another glaring contradiction, John Paul supported faith-inspired revolutionary politics in Eastern Europe but disciplined and sacked theologians and priests in South America who were emboldened by the Gospel and the theology of liberation.
He canonised hundreds of safe, conservative, conventionally devout people while failing, scandalously in my opinion, to honour figures such as Archbishop Oscar Romero, the martyr of El Salvador.
On questions of sexual morality John Paul II, like Bo Beep, lost the majority of his sheep. His rigid adherence to an absolute ban on condoms, even in the face of Aids, his rigid stand on divorce and remarriage and his ban on bishops even discussing married and women priests has set the Church back decades.
Friday's ceremony in Rome is the funeral, not of a powerless vicar of the utterly powerless Christ, but the funeral of a head of state and a powerful world leader. It will be attended by kings, queens and prime ministers as well as millions of ordinary people. I will watch it on television for the spectacle it will be. But in my heart the haunting words of Christ will echo: "Woe to you when the world speaks well of you. This was the way their fathers treated the false prophets". - Yours, etc.,
Bishop PAT BUCKLEY, The Oratory, Larne, Co Antrim.
Madam, - As an Englishman of Irish descent I have always been proud of my Irish Catholic ancestry but now I am saddened and ashamed that there will be no official day of mourning for Pope John Paul II who had such a love of Ireland and its people. Even in England there was recognition for the Pope, with the postponement of the royal wedding and the suspension of electioneering, if only for a day.
What has become of this once proud, Catholic Irish nation?- Yours, etc.,
JAMES EDWARD CLARKE, Upholland, Lancahire, England.
Madam, - As Pope John Paul was a great humanitarian it would be appropriate for Ireland to honour him by granting amnesty to asylum-seekers who have been in this country for more than two years. An action such as this would please and respect him better than any day of mourning. - Yours, etc.,
CATHERINE BUTLER, Sandymount, Dublin 4.
Madam, - Given the Pope's role in the demise of Communism and how intrinsic his birthplace was to process, perhaps the next pope should not be from Europe, Latin America or Africa but the country which keeps one fifth of the world from exercising true political and religious freedom - China. There is a Cardinal Shan from China who resides in Taiwan. Perhaps the world needs someone willing to take on tyranny as well as John Paul II did. - Yours, etc.,
ADRIAN BOLAND, Langton Park, Newbridge, Co Kildare.
Madam, - Mark Steyn focuses on the aspects of John Paul II's papacy that he agrees with: unflinching opposition to both Communist totalitarianism and secular attitudes to sex ("Pope exposes the lie at the heart of modern secular sensibility", Opinion, April 4th). Nowhere does he mention of the late Pope's much more frequent calls for peace, mutual tolerance of religious differences, and social justice for the poor of the world.
Given Mr Steyn's cheerleading for the war in Iraq, his gleeful hand-rubbing for the wars he thinks are to come, and his approval of America's economic model (compared with "socialist" Europe), I'm not really surprised. In this sense he is just as "parochial" as the staunch social liberals who obsess over the Catholic Church's refusal to accept gay marriage, women priests and abortion. Perhaps he felt it was more charitable to focus on those of the Pope's convictions that he agrees with, and ignore the more important ones that he disagrees with - but it was hardly entirely truthful, was it? Somewhat ironic given the title of the article. - Yours, etc.,
GERARD POWER, Glendhu Road, Dublin 7.
Madam, - Congratulations on a fine farewell to a great man. Pope John Paul II showed the world how to live and how to die. He fought the good fight for peace in this troubled world we live in. Sadly he missed out on a Nobel Peace Prize during his lifetime. A belated and very noble gesture now would be to award him the Nobel Peace Prize for 2005 posthumously. - Yours, etc.,
FINBARR SLATTERY, Orchard Close, Killarney, Co Kerry.
Madam, - Media reports suggest that the late Pope John Paul II may, in future, be referred to as Pope John Paul the Great - which, according to the same reports, would make him only the third pope in the long life of the Church to be referred to as "the Great".
In fact, he would be the fourth pope to bear this title. The Annuario Pontificio (the Vatican yearbook issued every year) indicates that three popes bear this title: Leo the Great (440-461), Gregory the Great (590-604), and Nicholas the Great (858-867)
It would be a pity if the great Nicholas I was to be ignored. - Yours, etc.,
JOHN BARRY, Nephin Road, Cabra, Dublin 7.