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VATICAN LETTER May-21-2004 (740 words) Backgrounder. With photo. xxxi
Visit to Switzerland: When young people call, this pope answers
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope John Paul II travels to Switzerland in early June on a two-day mission to the heart of Europe and the hearts of young people.
The schedule for the 84-year-old pope has been reduced to the minimum. The pontiff will be the guest of honor at a youth rally in Bern June 5 and celebrate Mass for Swiss Catholics, young and old, in a meadow outside the city June 6.
Despite the scaled-back program, the papal visit will highlight some key issues. The trip to a multilingual, multicultural nation in the center of "Old Europe" gives the pope another chance to hammer home his message that the recently expanded European Union must remain true to its Christian roots.
At the same time, the pope is expected to bring words of unity to Swiss Catholics, who have experienced serious internal disagreements since the pope's last visit in 1984.
It's the pope's first foreign trip in nine months, and some see it as a personal test for the frail pontiff, who no longer walks and has to be pushed by aides on a wheeled chair.
All these issues -- Christianity in Europe, Catholic unity in Switzerland and the health of the pope -- may surface during the 32-hour visit, but the reason for the trip is probably much simpler: When young people call, this pope answers. In this case, Swiss Catholic youths had the audacity to invite him despite the misgivings of their elders.
"We older people thought immediately about the cost, about the logistics, about the pope's physical problems, and about the fact that we are 3 million Catholics out of 1 billion in the world," said Father Roland Trauffer, vicar general of the Diocese of Basel.
"The fact that the Holy Father responded to the invitation was a surprise, and now Swiss Catholics are starting to get excited," Father Trauffer said.
The rally June 5 in a Bern sports arena is expected to draw up to 10,000 people, ages 16-30, in the first national meeting of young Catholics in Switzerland. The two-day encounter will include song, dance, hip-hop and pop music performances, film clips and more.
The youth encounter will be broadcast on all three state TV channels, and organizers hope many of the young people's parents also will be watching and listening.
The Swiss are notoriously independent-minded and democratically oriented, and church leaders say this has posed problems when it comes to church teachings and policies.
"If it were up to them, Swiss Catholics would have long ago decided to abolish priestly celibacy, ordain women, have intercelebration among Christians and elect bishops," Father Trauffer said.
The challenge facing church leaders is to teach their own faithful that the church is a different kind of community and that the shared responsibility of lay people has definite limits, he said.
Swiss Catholics are still feeling the effects of a pastoral crisis that began when Bishop Wolfgang Haas was appointed head of the Diocese of Chur in 1990. The bishop was publicly opposed by many of the clergy and laity in the diocese, who accused him of being a conservative autocrat.
Relations worsened to the point that the pope replaced Bishop Haas in 1998 and moved him to an archdiocese in neighboring Lichtenstein. Father Trauffer said it will take generations to heal the damage.
"For many Swiss Catholics, the role and image of the bishop in the life of the church has not yet been restored. Even the idea of being Catholic and belonging to the church needs to be better understood," he said.
The Swiss are a tough audience, and the pope could easily have passed up this visit in favor of a late-May trip to Austria, a more heavily Catholic country. The fact that he decided to visit Bern has impressed the Swiss, organizers said.
Whether the pope will be able to communicate directly on any or all of these issues remains to be seen. In recent months, his speech and stamina have seemed to improve, but reading a text for more than a few minutes is still a strain on the pontiff's energies.
Before leaving Switzerland, the pope will take time to meet for a few minutes with former Swiss Guards. It's his way of showing appreciation to the guards as they prepare to celebrate their 500th anniversary in 2006.
END
Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service.
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