John Paul II and the question of women

(By Denis Greenan).
    (ANSA) - Vatican City, April 27 - John Paul II stood firmly by the Catholic Church's traditional view that the priesthood is for men alone but in every other area he forcefully demanded absolute equality between the sexes.
    In this, some would argue he was the harbinger for Pope Francis who is today looking to elevate women to key roles, including perhaps naming some as cardinals.
    John Paul ignored pressure from the secular world and some American Catholics, always saying the 'no women priests' policy was dictated by a necessary respect for tradition and Jesus's choice of 12 men as his disciples.
    Despite this stand, he has paid more attention to the role of women in the Church and society than any pope before him and surprised some by inserting a female presence in the upper echelons of the Vatican's administration.
    "He gave currency in the Church to serious reflection on the position of women and traced a paradigm for the future.
    But his thoughts have not yet been translated into reality," said Prof. Ilaria Morali, who teaches dogmatic theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University.
    John Paul, who was the first pope to devote a weighty official document to women, often explained that in the divine plan women had a crucial role which was perhaps superior to that of men. In the Apostolic Letter 'Mulieris Dignitatem' (1988), he said that humanity's redemption derived from a woman, Mary.
    "Men and women were equally created in God's image," he said in that document, noting that in the Old Testament God was attributed both male and female characteristics.
    In his Letter to Women (1995) John Paul recognised the value of feminism and denounced "aggressive masculinity".
    "We are unfortunately the heirs of a history of enormous conditioning which in every latitude and every era has rendered the path of woman difficult and failed to recognise her dignity," he wrote.
    He urged women to hold onto the maternal aspect of their identity, referring to them as "custodians of life". He rejected the argument that women should have the right to decide the termination of a pregnancy through abortion.
    In the later years of his papacy, John Paul has put a few women in moderately senior Vatican jobs, indicating that he saw space for women in the hierarchy.
    In April 2004 he asked a 66-year-old nun to take over the number 3 slot at a key department, the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life.
    This appointment followed the arrival of a woman law professor, Mary Ann Glendon, at the head of the Vatican's social sciences department. There were more female arrivals in previously all-male bodies further down the ladder.
    In the eyes of the late pontiff, Jesus's mother Mary was the model for womanhood and he dedicated his pontificate to her. The letter M stands over his official papal coat-of-arms.
    He also said often that he believed that it was the Madonna that deflected the bullet fired at him by an assassin during an audience in 1981. The pope was seriously wounded but emergency surgery was able to save his life.
    Some commentators have seen his fervent devotion to the Virgin Mary as the psychological result of having lost his mother when he was a child. A teacher of Lithuanian origin, she died when he was nine.
    Apart from his mother, a number of other women have played important roles in his life. In the early years of his pontificate the media paid much attention to Halina Krolikiewics, the daughter of the headmaster at the school in his home town of Wadowice.
    Portrayed as an early girlfriend, Krolikiewics is known only to have danced with the young Karol at their school graduation party.
    Another school friend, Ginka Beer, has also been mentioned in a similar vein. A Jewish adolescent who reportedly had striking eyes and black hair, she introduced the pope to what was to become one of his early passions, the theatre. She died at Auschwitz.
    John Paul kept up his friendship with Polish psychologist Wanda Poltawska right up until the final years of his pontificate and she was rumoured by some to be a sort of shadow counsellor to him.
    Poltawska is believed to have been crucial in the pope's decision in 2002 to remove Polish Archbishop Julius Paetz after he was accused of molesting seminarians.
    Finally, Mother Teresa is also seen as having had a fundamental importance for John Paul. For her he ignored five centuries of tradition and said her beatification cause could start without waiting the five statutory years after her death.
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