Spooky Pope Stuff

Us evangelicals certainly believe in divine miracles, but the Catholics seem to take it several steps further, with all kinds of stories of saints and mystical visions. It seems like every month or two somebody sees the Virgin Mary in their burrito and the next thing you know people are worshipping the thing. Those kinds of stories lead to doubts about all of the stories, which I'm sure is not a completely fair way to look at these things. However, I just have a hard time with the idea that Mary is waiting around Taco Bell for just the right tortilla in which to appear.

There has been a lot of talk about mystical things involving Pope John Paul II, and Hugh Hewitt read an email on his show yesterday that addressed some of those issues. I don't know how much of this stuff I believe, but it makes for interesting conversation:

Hugh,

Really great web post today. I am curious as to whether, if at all, protestant evangelicals are hospitable to such things. But since you posted on the Blessed Faustina, Fatima, etc., here are a few John Paul mystical factoids for future reference.

* John Paul died Saturday at the conclusion of the mass of the Divine Mercy, which was being said in his presence on Saturday evening. This is a feast day instituted by the Pope following his canonization of Faustina. It also signals the conclusion of "Bright week", as the Church celebrates Easter as as week, not simply a day.

* When Padre Pio, the great Capuchin mystic and stigmatist (also canonized by John Paul) was nearing death in 1968, it was decided that the
hundreds of thousands of letters he had received over the years from people around the world asking for healings, and which were stored at his
monestary, should be destroyed, since much of what was written was subject to penitent-priest confidentiality. Before they were destroyed, Padre Pio went to the storeroom, plucked two letters out of the pile, handed them to a brother monk and said "save these two, they will be important someday." Both letters were written in the 1950s by an obscure Polish priest named Carol Wotyla, asking Padre Pio to pray for parishioners who were terminally ill. In both cases, it turned out,the person for whom intervention was sought experienced immediate, miraculous recoveries.

* John Paul was shot by Mehmet Ali Aga on May 13th, the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. In 1984 John Paul fulfilled the Fatima request that the Holy Father, in concert with all the bishops of the world, simultaneously consecrate Russia to Mary. This had been attempted, in marginal and incomplete ways, by earlier popes in the century. After the consecration, the Vatican heard from Sister Lucia, the surviving Fatima visionary, that the consecration had been accepted. Shortly thereafter, Andropov (or whichever geriatric Stalinist was then in charge, I forget) dropped dead and Gorbachev assumed power.ÂTwo years ago, you may recall, the Church, with Lucia's permission, revealed the third and final secret of Fatima. It was a vision of the assasination attempt on the Pope, together with the martydom of other religious during the 20th century.

* Last but not least (for those who doubt that the Holy Spirit can be pretty proactive when necessary) shortly after his ascension to the papacy in 1978, Pope John Paul I startled his staff at breakfast one morning when he informed them that "he would not be Pope for very long." His explanation: he had had a prophetic dream the night before informing him that the conclave had disregarded the the will of the Holy Spirit, and matters needed to be corrected. Specifically, John Paul I told his confidants, the cardinals were supposed to have elected the cardinal who had been sitting behind him during the consistory. The cardinal who had sat behind him was Carol Wotyla.

And that concludes this week's edition of inside baseball ...

Like you, I am truly fascinated by the (non old-line denomination) protestant reaction to John Paul, as well as the reaction by non-christian people of faith around the world. Something historic is afoot here, and bears close watching. Glad to have you doing the observing.

Dwight"

I'm hoping I can get through my Mexican dinner without a saint appearing in my food.

UPDATE: No saints appeared during dinner - what a relief! By the way, there's another semi-mystical item about this Pope. Apparently he was born on a day that a solar eclipse occured, and will be buried on a day when a solar eclipse occurs. Given that these occur a couple of times a year, I don't think this means much. Maybe if he had died DURING a solar eclipse I could get a little more intrigued at the possible connection.