Madam, - As a teenage Catholic, I have been affected profoundly by the death of the Pope. The nobility with which he faced suffering and death has shown me, more than could any flowery Sunday sermon, how to face the monumental moments of our lives.
Young people loved John Paul because he represented their highest hopes and aspirations. In a world where "adults" make war and where young people are too often dismissed as irrelevant citizens, the Pope understood acutely that we are just as much victims of ageism as the elderly. In an epoch where currents of indifferentism and moral relativism must have frustrated him at times, he was persistent in his defence of the truth, even when he was met by a flaring of nostrils and a curling of lips.
This Pope who longed and worked so much for unity in his life has achieved a kind of majestic union of humankind in his death. While we are a sadly divided and yet wonderfully colourful world, whether we be Catholic or non-Catholic, rich or poor, pro-life or pro-choice, at the passing of this frail hero the hue of all our tears is the same. - Yours, etc.,
SEAN ALEXANDER SMITH, Aiken's Village, Sandyford, Dublin 18.
Madam, - I wonder if the question of publicly mourning the passing of John Paul II is made more difficult by a deep - and in many cases yet unexpressed - sense of betrayal of our trust and confidence in the goodness of all the clergy and the Christ-like pastoral love of the Irish Hierarchy.
When we see footage of John Paul in 1979, we also see our own innocence and trust in the institutional Church. Perhaps at this point we need to have a national day of grieving for our own loss of innocence, which is perhaps triggered by the memories of the papal visit. Loss of innocence is also a sign of coming of age whereby we take greater responsibility for our spirituality and the holiness of our church. But perhaps we need to acknowledge our grief before we are ready to move on.
On the question of the next pope, I would suggest that we need someone willing and able to re-examine the role of sacramental ministry (usually referred to as ordained ministry); the balance of central and local decision-making (balance of Roman and local power); and effective sources of spiritual nourishment (how the Eucharist is celebrated). - Yours, etc.,
CAITRIONA McCLEAN, Weston Avenue, Lucan, Co Dublin.
Madam, - The phrase "the end of an era" has become something of a cliché, but it can truly be applied to the death of Pope John Paul II. I agree with Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury who referred to him as "one of the greatest Christians of the century".
There have been five popes in my lifetime and I have no hesitation in saying that John Paul II was easily the most impressive of these. He was a true spiritual colossus, a man of extraordinary intellect, charisma and holiness. I can think of no religious leader or public figure in my lifetime who demonstrated such moral integrity and consistency. He never compromised on the teaching of the Church. He never sought popularity. He was a genuine contemplative and teacher.
It is not possible to understand or appreciate this man without first realising that he constantly emphasised our eternal destiny with God and the ephemerality of this world. He fully subscribed to St Augustine's famous saying: "You have made us for Yourself, Oh God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee". His deep awareness of the innate dignity and sacred value of human life led him to proclaim an uncompromising pro-life message, whether it be a steadfast opposition to abortion, capital punishment or the war in Iraq.
In his recent suffering he demonstrated the dignity of the frailty of old age. One could say that his very public pain and suffering were yet another statement of the inherent value of human life. He taught us to see a spiritual meaning in suffering. Who can forget his visit to the prison to see and forgive the man who tried to assassinate him in 1981? That was an act of real compassion and heroism. Young people found in him an inspirational figure who encouraged their idealism and unselfishness. World Youth Day was always a huge success.
In a moving tribute to the Pope, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor said: "He was one of the greatest popes in the Church's 2,000-year history. We will remember him for his witness to hope and the dignity of human life. We will remember him for reminding us tirelessly that this world is not the only world. There is a world to come. our eternal destiny."
The Pope's deep awareness of the intrinsic value of every human life struck me very forcefully last week when I heard of the death of Terri Schiavo, who died as a result of being deliberately deprived of the basic nourishment of food and water. It is simply incredible that this could be permitted to happen.
Perhaps it is time to study seriously the writings of the late Holy Father - Veritatis Splendor, Evangelium Vitae, Fides et Ratio and even Crossing the Threshold of Hope. They might just help us to address some of those ultimate and yet immediate questions of human life. Kant's formulation of them was: What can we know? Why is there anything at all? Where do human beings come from and where are they going? Why is the world as it is? Why and to whom are we finally responsible? Why are we here and what is it all about?
Belief in God gives reason, support and ultimate meaning to these crucial questions.
I feel grateful to have lived during the papacy of John Paul II who will surely go down in history as not merely one of the truly great popes, but one of the finest spiritual and moral leaders the world has known. - Yours, etc.,
ANTHONY REDMOND, North Great George's Street, Dublin 1.
Madam, - Congratulations to RTÉ1 on its well-chosen programme on the night of Pope John Paul's death. It really created the appropriate atmosphere for the occasion in its selection of soul-touching music and deep, thought-provoking poems which carried one into another world.
It is a great consolation to be able to depend on the accompaniment of such a dignified standard of condolence during this period of mourning our beloved Holy Father, Pope John Paul II. - Yours, etc.,
Fr PLACID C. NOLAN OP, Holy Cross Priory, Tralee, Co Kerry.
Madam, - So the late Pope never realised how much he had absorbed from "the Stalinism he opposed"? How could he, not having the insight of a Fintan O'Toole (Opinion, February 5th). It was John Paul's delusion that he was fulfilling Christ's call to bring Christ to the world. Devoid of the necessary self-awareness, how could he know that the "praetorian" structures that he had moulded for almost three decades were actually "the vestigial remnants, not of the crucified, but of the crucifiers"? He was an "emperor" oblivious of his nakedness. And now he has left the Church in sore need of a Fintan O'Toole to pontificate for several years, so that it can "get back to Christ".
I hope you provided Cardinal Connell with several copies before he left. I understand that the College of Cardinals does not have to choose one of its number, or even a bishop. Perhaps an apostate columnist might be considered. As a pontificator, he would hit the ground running. - Yours, etc.,
FRANK FARRELL, Lakelands Close, Stillorgan, Co Dublin.
Madam, - It was sad indeed listening to the Taoiseach explaining why there is to be no national day of mourning for the Pope. Mourning is a personal thing, he declared. We are no longer a community, just an amalgam of individuals, it seems.
But was the cat not let out of the bag by the representatives of the Small Firms Association and Ibec who, in supporting the Taoiseach, referred to the cost of such a communal show of respect? The truth is we are now an amoral ragbag of intellectual pygmies totally enslaved to the money god. I am glad the Pope never returned to witness at first hand what has become of us. - Yours, etc.,
JIM O'SULLIVAN, Rathedmond, Sligo.
Madam, - I would like to thank many of the recent contributors to this topic for reminding me why I don't want to move back to Ireland - the hypocrisy and the craw-thumping. So the Government should have declared a national day of mourning - why?
If you want to mourn the passing of Pope John Paul II, then do so, but you don't need the day off to achieve this. Go to Mass, say a prayer for him by all means, but what exactly do you think it would have achieved to have the day off? Were you all planning on getting up at your normal time, heading down to the local church and spending the day crying crocodile tears and beating your chest? No, I thought not: you'd have a lie-in, some of you might indeed go to a Mass, but then the rest of the day would be spent enjoying a long weekend.
Pope John Paul II is now at peace; he is no longer in pain, and he is back where be belongs according to his faith - so why a day of mourning? Pious hypocrites should be thankful that he has transcended this vale of tears and is no longer bound by the infirmities of age - you should be celebrating. He has achieved his goal - or have you all been so busy writing stern letters to the Editor that you have forgotten your Catechism? - Is mise,
SHEENAGH GOGGIN, London E9.
Madam, - Your pages and the airwaves have been full of people decrying the Taoiseach's failure to declare a national day off to allow people to mourn the Pope's passing, which they attribute to Ireland's worship of mammon rather than God.
Yet those who want a day of mourning can simply take a day from their annual holidays, or an unpaid day off. Who is really placing mammon first? - Yours, etc.,
TONY ALLWRIGHT, Killiney, Co Dublin.