Was Pope John Paul II A Good Man?

GEORGE L. FAULL  

There has been quite a lot of press about the death of the Pope.  One official said, “Mary was waiting at the gate of Heaven to receive him.”  Others said, “We were praying for him and now we’re praying to him.”

“The Catholic Church has lost its shepherd, the world has lost a champion of human freedom, and a good and faithful servant of God has been called home.”

- President George W. Bush

“Pope John Paul II was unquestionably the most influential voice for morality and peace in the world during the last 100 years.”

- Evangelist Billy Graham

“King: There is no question in your mind that he is with God now?”  Graham: “Oh, no.  There may be a question about my own, but I don’t think Cardinal Wojtyla, or the Pope – I think he’s with the Lord, because he believed.  He believed in the Cross.”

- Larry King with Billy Graham

There are many requests for the church to immediately elevate him to sainthood.  The world has judged him worthy of Heaven.  They feel it is fine to judge if you judge and pronounce a positive verdict.  However, if you give a negative verdict, you are judged

as a bigot and reminded that Jesus said not to judge.  One wonders why Jesus prohibition on judging applies to the negative but not to the positive.

One thing is certain.  Jesus said, “the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” John 12:48b.  We must be reminded that what the Word says now, it will say then.

The pope was a good man as far as Popes go, but he is not worthy of the admiration he is receiving.  Yes, he was opposed to abortion, homosexuality, and the murder of Terri Schiavo.  However, he showed his ignorance in favor of evolution and opposition to capital punishment and saying Muslims and Christian’s worship the same God.  But this is true of a lot of so-called evangelicals who have pronounced him a brother in Christ.

I do not share this view of Pope John Paul II.  Listen to some of his blasphemous words concerning Mary.  He declared her to be co-redeemer, though he never actually made her so as Catholic dogma.

"Thus there is a mediation: Mary places herself between her Son and mankind in the reality of their wants, needs and sufferings. She puts herself 'in the middle,' that is to say she acts as a mediatrix not as an outsider, but in her position as mother." Pope John Paul II, in Redemptoris Mater (On the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Life of the Pilgrim Church), Encyclical promulgated on March 25, 1987, #21.

"'The motherhood of Mary in the order of grace,' as the Second Vatican Council explains, 'lasts without interruption from the consent which she faithfully gave at the annunciation and which she sustained without hesitation under the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. In fact, being assumed into heaven she has not laid aside this office of salvation but by her manifold intercession she continues to obtain for us the graces of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity, she takes care of the brethren of her Son who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into their blessed home.'" Pope John Paul II, in Dives In Misericordia (The Father of Mercies and God of All Comfort), Encyclical promulgated on November 30, 1980.

"(Continuing our catechesis on the Blessed Virgin Mary, we are considering her cooperation in the redemptive sacrifice of Christ)...Mary...co-operated during the event itself and in the role of mother; thus her co-operation embraces the whole of Christ's saving work. She alone was associated in this way with the redemptive sacrifice that merited the salvation of all mankind. In union with Christ and in submission to him, she collaborated in obtaining the grace of salvation for all humanity...In God’s plan, Mary is the 'woman’ (cf. John 2:4; John 19:26), the New Eve, united to the New Adam in restoring humanity to its original dignity. Her cooperation with her Son continues for all time in the universal motherhood which she enjoys in the order of grace. Trusting in this maternal cooperation, let us turn to Mary, imploring her help in all our needs." Pope John Paul II, in his General Audience of April 9, 1997, (quoted in "The Virgin Mary as Co-Redemtrix, Mediatrix and Advocate", by B.A. Robinson).

“Mary, though conceived and born without taint of sin, participated in a marvelous way in the sufferings of her divine Son, in order to be Coredemptrix of humanity.” Pope John Paul II, in remarks made to pilgrims after his General Audience on September 8, 1982 (quoted in Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, V/3 (1982) 404, quoted by Arthur Burton Calkins, “Pope John Paul II’s Teaching on Marian Coredemption”,

"The teaching of the Second Vatican Council presents the truth of Mary's mediation as 'a sharing in the one unique source that is the mediation of Christ himself.'" Pope John Paul II, in Redemptoris Mater (On the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Life of the Pilgrim Church), Encyclical promulgated on March 25, 1987, #38

"The truth of the Assumption, defined by Pius XII, is reaffirmed by the Second Vatican Council, which thus expresses the Church's faith: "Preserved free from all guilt of original sin, the Immaculate Virgin was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory upon the completion of her earthly sojourn. She was exalted by the Lord as Queen of the Universe...For the Mother of Christ is glorified as 'Queen of the Universe'." Pope John Paul II, in Redemptoris Mater (On the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Life of the Pilgrim Church), Encyclical promulgated on March 25, 1987, #41.

Pope John Paul II was presumptuous, like all the other preceding Popes.  Note his titles as Pope:

¨     “Pontifex Maximus” (The great high Priest) cp Hebrews 4:14

¨     “Holy, Lord God, the Pope” cp II Thessalonians 2:4

¨     “Vicar of Christ” cp John 5:43

¨     “The Holy Father”  cp John 17:11, Matthew 23:9

¨     “Successor to the Prince of the Apostles” Acts 1:20-25

¨     “Chief Shepherd” cp I Peter 5:4

¨     “His Holiness” cp Acts 3:14

Do I hate the man himself?  No.

Do I admire him?  No

He was the head of the system that exalts itself above all that is called God.  He was the Head of the Babylonian system.  I do not judge him.  God’s Word has already judged him.  I only affirm that God’s Word is true.  He could not be ignorant that he is not the great High Priest.  He knew he was not God.  He was absolutely the opposite of the one he alleges to be successor.  Peter said, “Silver and gold have I none.”  Look at the coffers of Rome.  Peter said, “Stand up, I also am a man.”  Did the Pope ever say such words?  Here is a man who claims that when he sat in Peter’s chair, he could not error.  Here is a man that believed the wafer and wine turn into the ACTUAL BODY AND BLOOD OF JESUS, and then he worshipped it.  This is pure idolatry.  If it became Jesus’ actual body and blood, then he was a cannibal and he ate blood, which any Christian knows is forbidden, even in the New Testament.

No, this man was the great enemy of Christ.  He steals His worship, His titles, His work, His ordinances, and perpetuates division among believers by his presumptuous claims.  Another came in Jesus’ name and men have received him just as Jesus said in John 5:43.