Letters
Eulogy to the late Pope
11 April 2005
Dear Sir
Few can fail to have been touched by the death of Pope John Paul II last week. His determination to remain Pontiff, despite debilitating illness, was inspiring as was his sense of unwavering conviction. He possessed the moral courage and tenacity to confront two powerful and pernicious ideologies in our own century: communism and anti Semitism. In the first case, his intervention ensured a peaceful transition to democracy in Poland. In the second, he recognized the hateful legacy of the Catholic Church towards the Jews and brought about an unprecedented reconciliation between Christianity and its ‘older brother’. His empathy for Jewish suffering was unprecedented and moving. True, he possessed feet of clay like all great leaders. Judged from a humanistic perspective, his rigid control of dogma was divisive as was his ruthless treatment of religious dissent. There should have been greater scope for debate on issues of religious interpretation. Nonetheless, his clarity of vision and remarkable courage mark him out as a moral giant of our age.
Yours sincerely
Jeremy Havardi
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