The Response In Poland To The Death Of The Pope

Words from a pop star who died many years ago. Words which are very poignant today: “Who wants to live forever?” According to my Bible, God planted eternity in the heart of men . . . or did He? Why are we so obsessed with living forever . . . not growing old? Millions are spent on beauty products worldwide, plastic surgery is now very common. Why? Is it because God did plant a desire for eternity in us after all? A few years ago we heard about the tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales. We also witnessed the open show of grief, as this event touched many lives in the U.K. Suddenly it was all right to cry in the streets; their pain was very visible. Recently we have seen this in our own country of Poland after the death of Karol Wojtyla, Pope John Paul II. The whole world was affected. Not just believers of Roman Catholicism, but also believers from other faiths, including so called “Protestants”. But nowhere was it felt the way it was in my country. I was aware of his influence in Poland, but this was highlighted by his death and all the events following. Here are but a few examples:

* National mourning marked many days. It actually started two days before the Pope died, and continued for about two weeks.
* Daily newspapers were printed in black and white (no other colours); even web pages were in sad colours for a few days after the Pope’s death.
* There was nothing on television for about four or five days, apart from the Roman Church masses, and the Pope’s history.
* We were cut off from all other news around the world, as at that time everything had lost its meaning.

We heard constantly about the Pope, his history, reports of all his visits to Poland (eight altogether), the benefits he brought to our nation and to the entire world. Somehow there was this feeling that this mere man brought much more goodness into the world than Christ himself. We heard constantly about the love of Poles for him, and that the world won’t be the same now.

Spiritual dimension

What shocked me most was the spiritual dimension. We heard that people were not praying just for him, but they had already started praying to him. We heard that it is good that he went to heaven because now Poland will have the best mediator we can imagine. He is considered as holy, and one newspaper wrote that the phrase “Our Father which art in heaven…” has now got a wider, new meaning. One young person on the news was heard saying: “We didn’t listen to the Pope too much when he was alive, but now is the time to start obeying his teachings.” Maybe that is the reason that they started to invite people to Christ using John Paul II pictures, or better using his authority, now that he is dead.

When I was driving in Zywiec (which had been visited by the Pope) I could see crowds of people standing around his monument (that is not only in Zywiec but almost every place in Poland), burning thousands of candles and praying. At that time even in the schools it was recommended that children should dress in black colours, and wear special marks of sorrow. For the young people of our Church it was quite a challenge to be different.

All that happened at that time can be described in one word – madness. Yes, he did have a great influence; he did achieve many great things. But we will pray for our nation, and all people around the world who are blinded and cannot see the true Saviour. In their blindness they cannot see the greatness of Christ’s glory, His majesty and love. It is so sad that millions of people took the Glory of Christ and gave it to a mere man – the Pope. We know the only One who can change the lives of men and give everlasting life – life we all long to have; we know his name – Jesus Christ. He lives for ever, He changes lives for ever, and even though He is not seen, He can do things that no other man can do, because only the Lord can save. He is the one who lives forever, he is the Immortal One, who gives eternal life.

From the Vision of Europe, July-September 2005, the magazine of the European Missionary Fellowship, with permission
www.emf-welwyn.org