|
|
|
|
The 1985 papal visit to the Netherlands was a disaster, probably the worst* for John Paul II, bad from before he left Rome.
Leftist politics in 1985 were ascendant in Dutch public life. The general population had become notably secular; and the Dutch are famously historically tolerant. Top-down rule is foreign to the culture (although the country is a monarchy.) The conservatism of the Vatican had become anathema. Many inside and outside of the church started thinking of protest when the upcoming pausbezoek was announced in 1983.
John Paul II's days in Holland would be unlike the typical celebration. It was first obvious when the pontiff kissed the ground at Eindhoven: few people had come out to greet him. Officials had expected 100,000, but fewer than a tenth of that number appeared. In the streets of Den Bosch later that day, the numbers were similar, flouting similar expectation.
But the cool reaction was a mild spectacle compared to events the next day in Utrecht.
|
There were various leftist organizations ascendant in mid-80's Netherlands that were quite radical. But it was not merely the province of the radical fringe to demonstrate. There came to be demonstrations against many features of political conservatism, across the culture. The Netherlands was not ready for a papal visit not in an affirmative way. But John Paul II was to visit Belgium and Luxembourg in May, and you can't tell the Holy Father that his timing would be inopportune. The Dutch bishops couldn't opt not to invite him.
|
|
The satirical TV show "Pisa" had a segment called "Popie Jopie" that became its most notorious. It featured a song by that name, and a video, hier te zien op YouTube | |
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."2
There was a gathering scheduled for the second day at the Utrecht's Jaarbeurs convention center. The Pope would confer his blessings, and members of the Dutch church would speak in his audience. The streets around the Jaarbeurs were unsettled. There were slogans, banners, people climbing lamp-posts it was chaos. When 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. Inside, all appeared to be much more like a normal papal visit. The atmosphere was peaceful, again, with the streets of Utrecht locked outside the doors. People from different sectors of the Church spoke to the pope, reading from documents that had been approved.
But there was another surprise.
|
The Catholic church in NL 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 brought many of their desires to the fore. They wanted humane consideration of homosexuality, anti-conception, marriage of priests / abolishment of compulsory 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 in 1971 with the bishop of Rotterdam, the man who would in 1985 be Cardinal Simonis.
The Vatican had been unprepared for the strident calls for liberalism within the Dutch church during the 1960's, and this conflict had as yet been 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. Cardinal Simonis held his ground. Halkes was off the program of speakers. The press cried "censorship," but the church had spoken. 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 ... discussion about unmarried partners, divorce, marriage in the priesthood, homosexuals, and women?"
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 "Now the pope's visit has gone wrong." ("Ik dacht op dat moment: nu is het pausbezoek mislukt.")
Monsignor Bär, in 1985 the 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."
After the riots of Utrecht and the confrontation there with Ms. Wasser's conscience, the remainder of the visit was mostly smooth for the pope and his organizers.
The only remaining problem was a glitch in the catering logistics. The Holy Father during his four days received an identical dish "at least five times." Father Van Munster, the organizer, had asked what the pontiff likes to eat and was told "sole with puréed asparagus." Apparently everybody in catering got word about the one menu arrangement that the Vatican 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 sole for months."4
Nearly everybody was glad when the visit was over. 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
|
|
|
1. "Het had nooit mogen gebeuren... [maar]... Het was niet tegen te houden." Andere Tijden, a VPRO television program.
↑ Return to "should never have happened" ...
|
2. "Wie dacht dat het niet pijnlijker kon worden dan de eerste dag, verlangde nu terug naar de lege straten van Den Bosch." Andere Tijden, a VPRO television program.
↑ Return to "the empty streets of Den Bosch" ...
|
3. "Gaan we geloofwaardig om met de boodschap van het Evangelie, als een opgestoken vingertje gepredikt wordt in plaats van een toegestoken hand? Als geen ruimte maar uitsluiting wordt aangezegd aan ongehuwd samenwonenden, gescheidenen, gehuwde priesters, homoseksuelen én vrouwen?" Andere Tijden, a VPRO television program.
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" ...
|
|
4. "Dus ik denk dat die goede heilige vader in de eerste maanden geen tong kon zien." Andere Tijden, a VPRO television program.
↑ Return to "sole 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" ...
|
Sources:
Transcript of a television broadcast of an episode of Andere Tijden"," (Other Times.)
Katholiek Nieuwsblad (Catholic Newspaper)
|
|
|
*"Worst" journey is a bold superlative.
Known as the "travelling pope," Karol Józef Wojtyła visited more than 100 countries as pontiff.
|
|
↑ Return to "maybe the worst" ...
|
|
|