(By Denis Greenan).
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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