The Netherlands journey, maybe the worst* of his papacy, came off badly from start to finish, and from before he left Rome.

Leftist politics in 1985 were ascendant. The population, too, had become notably secular — and in any case the Dutch politic is famously tolerant. Discussion and consensus have been instrumental in development of a land that lives with water — and community decisions. Top-down rule is foreign to Holland (yes, a monarchy.) Decisions from the Vatican about conservative issues had become anathema to much of the Dutch ethic. Many inside and outside the church had protest in mind from the announcement in 1983 of the upcoming papal visit.

John Paul II's days in Holland would be unlike the typical celebration that a country affords a papal visit.

The officials had expected 100,000 people — as you would. Instead, fewer than a tenth of that number appeared.

In the streets of Den Bosch, later that day, the numbers were similar, to flout a similar expectation.

But even the spectacle of the people's cool reaction to his arrival was a mild affront to the pope and the church compared to events the next day, in Utrecht.

The squatter's movement in the early 80's counted about 40,000 participants. (In 2006 — largely due to increased building occupancy [due in part to the squatter's movement] — the number is nearer 1000.) Squatters were in some cases quite militant — but even on the average rather assertive. As a movement they demanded and received a tolerance for occupying any building which had lain empty and for which no development was in plan.

The squatters are only an example — though a radical one — of the active left in 1985 Holland.

Punk-rockers, naturally, were to be seen and heard. Punk rock was, of course, inherently political — or, sometimes, apolitical, or anti-political; ergo political.

But in Holland of 1985, there occurred plenty of regular demonstrations against all that was conservative and right-wing — demonstrations that were not merely the province of the radical fringe.

However, since John Paul II was to visit Belgium and Luxembourg that May, the church in Holland could only do one thing — invite him. You can't tell the Holy Father that his timing would be inopportune.

By the time that the papal aircraft landed in Eindhoven, many of the Dutch were well-prepared for him. At first, they just stayed away — there are speculations about why that happened, but the raw fact of nearly-empty streets tells a story on its own.

And then there were the protesters.

"Whoever thought that it couldn't get more painful than the first day wished they could go back to the empty streets of Den Bosch." — Andere Tijden, a VPRO television program.2

There was a gathering scheduled for the second day of the Pope's visit at the Utrecht "Jaarbeurs," or convention center. The Pope would confer his blessings, and members of the Dutch church would speak in his audience.

The streets of Utrecht surrounding the Jaarbeurs were filled with protesters. They shouted slogans: "Pope go home;" displayed banners of similar opinion; hung from lamp-posts — it was chaos.

Somebody began to hurl stones — the occasion devolved into rioting and police battles.

The Pope and his entourage were unable to get into the Jaarbeurs through the main entrance, and had to avail of access at the rear of the complex.

The atmosphere was peaceful, again, the streets of Utrecht locked outside the doors.

People from different sectors of the Church spoke to the Holy Father with respect. They read — more to the point — from documents that had been approved.

But there was another surprise....

The pope's Dutch troubles weren't over yet.

Because the sectarianism kept the Catholics a distinct community, the accord between them, and between them and Rome, was pretty tight — before the 1960's.

The Catholic church in Holland had taken the 1962 "Second Vatican Council" to heart, with a result in 1966 of the "Pastoral Council" in Noordwijkerhout. This "Pastoraal Concilie" went somewhat further than the liberalizations of 1962 Rome — and meanwhile the sympathy for change had cooled in the Vatican.

Progressive Catholics wanted a practical, Dutch expression of the intentions of Vatican II. The Pastoral Council of 1966 in Noorderwijkerhout brought many of their desires to the fore. They wanted humane consideration of homosexuality, anti-conception, marriage of priests (and the abolishment of compelled celibacy,) and a more democratic manifestation of Church heirarchy.

After a few years of diplomatic unease, the Vatican ruled in 1970 against the Pastoral Council. The Pope underlined his message soon thereafter by naming a number of conservative bishops, beginning with the man who would in 1985 be Cardinal Simonis (in 1971 named the bishop of Rotterdam.)

The Vatican had been unprepared for the strident calls for liberalism within the Dutch church during the 1960's, and this conflict was unresolved in 1985.

Simonis worried about the slated participation of the theologian Catharine Halkes, known for her feminist opinions. He declared that Halkes could only speak if accompanied on the program by a more "traditional" Catholic woman. Halkes did not concede.

The press cried "censorship," but Cardinal Simonis held his ground. Halkes was off the program of speakers.

Instead, another woman, the little-known Hedwig Wasser, took the podium. Wasser spoke on behalf of the National Council of Missionary Societies (Nederlandse Missieraad,) the primary body in the administration of foreign Dutch-Catholic matters. She gave her speech from prepared notes about various pertinent allied organizations — notes that had been fully vetted.

But Ms. Wasser did not finish her delivery when she came to the end of her prepared notes. Ms. Wasser spoke directly to the Pope, and began by saying: "Do we present a credible version of the Gospel message if we preach with a raised finger in place of an extended hand?... If there's no room for — but in fact an exclusion of — discussion about unmarried partners, divorce, marriage in the priesthood, homosexuals, and women?"3

Pope John Paul II could do nothing but sit there and listen, in all his eminence.

Ms. Wasser did exactly what Cardinal Simonis had attempted to prevent — she said that which one could not say.

At that moment, Simonis thought (in his own words): "Now the pope's visit has gone wrong." ("Ik dacht op dat moment: nu is het pausbezoek mislukt.")

Monsignor Bär, in 1985 bishop of Rotterdam, saw it otherwise: "It's also necessary that people say to the pope what is in their heart.... I have no problem with that.... And I think that if I must be completely honest, neither has the pope."

Father Van Munster, the organizer, had asked what the pontiff likes to eat — "tongue with purée and asparagus."

Apparently everybody in catering logistics got word about the one menu arrangement that the Vatican entourage had specified — but obviously none of them knew that everybody else had only the same information.

Van Munster:

"I think that the good Holy Father was unable to look at tongue for months."4

Cardinal Simonis:

"There has never been a day that I breathed such a wonderful sigh of relief as when we boarded the plane to Luxembourg."5

Contact

Return to "should never have happened" ...

Return to "the empty streets of Den Bosch" ...

I don't think that it means "the middle finger," because that's not a normal Dutch way of expression, and among the Dutch may be considered not only rude but asociaal.

Here's another statement by Hedwig Wasser:
"Women don't want half the cookie. They want another cookie."
(Vrouwen willen niet de helft van de koek. Ze willen een andere koek.)

Return to "Hedwig Wasser" ...

Return to "tongue and asparagus" ...

5. "Er is nooit een dag geweest dat ik zo'n geweldige zucht van verlichting heb geslaakt als toen we in het vliegtuig naar Luxemburg zaten." — Andere Tijden, a VPRO television program.

Return to "sigh of relief" ...

Known as the "travelling pope," Karol Józef Wojtyła visited more than 100 countries as pontiff. "Never before during a papal visit were the streets so empty, and at the same time the stone-throwers so nearby." — VPRO.nl.

["Nooit eerder waren bij een pausbezoek de straten zo leeg en tegelijkertijd de stenengooiers zo dichtbij."]