People sometimes say ‘Easter Saturday’ meaning the day before Easter. In fact, it is the Saturday after Easter, and this year it was the day the Pope died. The first reading in the Missal for that day is from the Acts of the Apostles (iv 13–21). It concerns the reaction of the elders and scribes to the healing by Peter (the first Pope) and John of a lame man in the name of Jesus. The worried Sanhedrin hold a private conference, saying, in the Missal’s version, ‘It is obvious to everybody in Jerusalem that a miracle has been worked through them in public, and we cannot deny it. But to stop the whole thing spreading any further among the people, let us caution them never to speak to anyone in his name again.’ So they call in Peter and John and warn them. To which the Apostles reply, ‘You must judge whether in God’s eyes it is right to listen to you and not to God. We cannot promise to stop repeating what we have seen and heard.’ The elders then release the two men because ‘they could not think of any way to punish them, since all the people were giving glory to God for what had happened’. This was pretty much the pattern when Pope John Paul the Great assailed communism in Eastern Europe. The Gospel reading for the same day (Mark xvi 9–15) details more appearances of the risen Christ and ends with the most famous Biblical instruction to evangelism: ‘Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation’, which is what the Pope did more effectively than any of his predecessors except the first.
No doubt there will be many excellent suggestions for bodies, buildings, publications, societies, institutes and orders named after John Paul the Great.
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in