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The Power of the Pope
Watchword - Power of the
papacy
By Geoff Hughes
The death of Pope John Paul II has generated diverse assessments
of his papacy, most emphasising his courageous leadership and
radical opposition to communism, others his conservatism on
sexual morality.
The pope also provided an unusual perspective on the
relationship between language and power, especially as his
faculties deteriorated under the remorseless advance of
Parkinson's Disease. Had the pope been a business executive or a
political leader, he would assuredly have resigned or been
replaced.
This decline famously happened to Lenin, the rhetorical dynamo
of the communist revolution, after a series of strokes. But even
though orally inarticulate, the pope remained in office to the
end, sustained by the institution.
In Protestant western Europe the papacy has for centuries been
viewed as a corrupt and venal institution. Medieval satirists
mockingly said "papa" (Latin for "pope") means "pay pay", and in
England Guy Fawkes Day was called Pope Day up to a century ago,
since an effigy of the pope was burnt on November 5. John Paul's
example has encouraged a reassessment.
Geoff Hughes is Professor Emeritus, Wits University
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