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Faith Alive!- No. 15 STORIES Apr-7-2008
Lasting effects of a papal visit
By Maureen E. Daly
Catholic News Service
Do papal visits have lasting effects on the church and on the countries visited?
"A general energizing of the local church is a pretty universal effect of a papal trip," according to John Thavis, chief of Catholic News Service's Rome bureau.
"A visit tends to get people excited, especially the people who worked together to plan the visit," he said. "The visits become a way for the church to recruit new talent and awaken its members. I have seen it happen in many places," and especially where lay leaders, not previously involved, were recruited to plan the events of the visit.
Another widespread effect, Thavis noted, is that papal visits "plant the seeds for new vocations." He recalled, for example, an African seminarian in Rome who, when asked how he decided to become a priest, replied, "Pope John Paul II came to my village when I was 12 years old."
"You can't discount that influence," Thavis said.
Papal visits have also sparked political change. "There is the example of Poland, of course," Thavis said, "but Paraguay and Haiti are also places where changes occurred after papal trips." In those two countries, Thavis said, "the pope's trip was hosted by a dictator and the pope made a point of talking about human rights."
During his visits, the pope tries to meet with all segments of society, Thavis said. "And so, in ... Paraguay, for example, he met with the political opposition."
These meetings and the public speeches create opportunities to "bring the idea of democratic expression out in the open."
Within a month or two of visits to such dictatorships, changes began to occur, Thavis said.
When the pope visited Azerbaijan in 2002, he had to say Mass in a gymnasium because the tiny Catholic minority had no church at all. "After the visit, the government donated land so that the Catholic Church could build a church," Thavis said.
The pope's visit to Cuba influenced that country to make progress "toward greater freedom of religious expression," Thavis recalled, although the move toward freedom "comes in small steps." For example, "the public celebration of Christmas was restored," Thavis said.
During papal visits the pope meets privately with a country's leaders. "In those meetings the message is communicated that 'we will be watching' when you negotiate with our representatives," Thavis said. "The pope doesn't negotiate at the time of the short meeting; rather, he gives his authority to the local people to carry on the dialogue with the government."
Dialogues that have begun with ceremonial visits from the pope have continued for many years afterward, Thavis noted. For example, in 2000 the pope visited the chief rabbinate in Israel and met with chief rabbis of the Sephardic and Ashkenazi communities. Dialogue between the chief rabbinate and the Vatican is now ongoing.
In a similar manner the pope visited Cairo in 2000 and met with leaders of the Muslim community. Muslim leaders continue to meet at the Vatican each year on the anniversary of that meeting in Cairo.
Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the mosque in Turkey sparked a new dialogue with the Muslim community. As a result, Muslim leaders met with Vatican officials in early March of 2008 and established a permanent Muslim-Catholic dialogue to include a November meeting with Pope Benedict.
"When the pope (John Paul II) went to St. Louis, he appealed against an execution and he personally asked the governor to commute the death sentence," Thavis said. "And the governor did it. In that case, the pope's visit saved one man's life."
(Daly is a freelance writer and editor in Baltimore)
END
Copyright (c) 2008 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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