Even After Life, the Pope Works His Magic!

Pope John Paul II was like no other before him; that is not to imply that he was the best Pontiff the Roman Catholic Church ever had. What I am trying to say is basically that unlike his predecessors, he reached out to people beyond the walls of Vatican City. Of course you have to bear in mind that John Paul II was fortunate enough to have his own personal motorcade, the distinguished 'Popemobile', his own personal aeroplane and much more to help him see the world. Everything at his disposal helped him forge a new papal doctrine- the promotion of peace as enshrined in the meetings of the Second Vatican Council.

Many people will remember his famous kisses he gave to the tarmacs at every new airport he encountered. His trip to his native Poland set off a wave of events that resulted in the collapse of Communism (of course there are many other players who contributed to this). Through his offices of mediation, peace was established in Mozambique, and this message echoed everywhere John Paul visited. He became to the first Pope to enter a synagogue in Rome. He travelled to Israel in 2000 to plead for forgiveness on behalf of his predecessors who had not done enough to prevent the Holocaust. The following year he visited the Syrian capital Damascus, the eldest continously inhabited city in the world, and also became the first Pontiff to visit a mosque. Throughout his trips, he made it clear that war was not the answer, as we all saw during the days leading up to the Iraq War.

Throughout the last weeks of his papacy and his life, I honestly wonder what the Pope thought about the situation in the Middle East- the problems facing Iraqis, the conflicts between Syria and Lebanon, and in general, the Arab-Israeli crisis. Of course, we can all assume what he hoped the outcome would be- a peaceful resolution. He died on April 2nd in a world very much divided. On the 8th of that month, the divisions in the world became smaller. Hundreds of world leaders gathered in the Vatican to pay their respects to Pope John Paul II.

Many politicians gathered together, who at one time or another were either political opponents or true enemies of each other. For example, President George W. Bush was accompanied by his father, Former President George H. W. Bush, and his father's former rival, Former President Bill Clinton. The leader of Britain's Conservative Party, Michael Howard, walked side by side with his counterpart from the opposing Liberal Democrats Party, Charles Kennedy. Although these rivalries do not stop them talking to one another and are purely healthy to democratic interests, they merely presented a microcosm of what was to happen next.

It has always been the policy of the Syrian government that the first handshake to take place between the Syrian and Israeli presidents ought to be when they have a concluded a peace agreement; this was not to be so. During the traditional handshakes of good will during a Christian ceremony, something historic happened, something that may have been the work of Pope John Paul II. Not once, but twice did Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and his Israeli counterpart, President Moshe Katsav, shake hands. Although many have claimed this was mere protocol, it is important to realize the situation in which this historic handshake took place. Here they were at the funeral of the Pope who had dedicated his life to peace. In life, he could not have persuaded these leaders to do so, but in death, he managed it. It did not end there however, but continued with another handshake between President Katsav and his Iranian counterpart, President Muhammad Khatami.

The greetings did not stop there. Prince Charles was quite surprised when Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe extended his hand to him. Although I am sure Prince Charles would have preferred to avoid it, it was inevitable to do so while paying tribute to the great Ambassador for Peace.

French President Jacques Chirac did something different on the other hand. After failing to see eye to eye with the Bush Administration over Iraq two years earlier, he kissed the hand of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. Although they had already made up months earlier, a kiss on a hand speaks more than a handshake.

The irony is that a man like Pope John Paul spent most of his life trying to engineer what had happened at his funeral while he was alive. Such an event proves that although people depart the Earth in death, they are never actually dead, but they have just moved somewhere else that may be even more significant. What the Pope did in life and death is simply heroism.