From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2013

Rueben from Kisii writes: “Omolo Beste I read your blog recently on Pope Francis urging rich nations to share their wealth with the poor. How comes Pope Benedict XVI was silence on this subject?

My second question is about Pope John II. Upon his election in October 1978, John Paul II was the first non-Italian Pope in 455 years and was expected to clean the mess at the Vatican Curia, a mess that was tolerated by Italian popes for years?”

Thank you Reuben for your questions- I don’t think you are right on Pope emeritus Benedict XVI. He was never silence on rich nations. Remember at one time he condemned corruption and illegality’ of politicians and businesses on eve of G8 meeting.

The Pope condemned the “corruption and illegality” of politicians and businesses across the world as he called for a new order based on the common good. In a detailed critique of modern social, economic and environmental problems, delivered on the eve of a summit of the G8 leaders in Italy, Pope Benedict XVI warned that globalisation risked triggering a worldwide crisis.

He criticised the UN and said a new organisation “with real teeth” is needed to prevent another financial crisis, bring about peace and reduce the gap between rich and poor.

The pope also warned ordinary consumers that their everyday choices have moral consequences, and called for greater appreciation of the potential dangers of new developments in technology and medicine.

He concluded that progress will only benefit the world if it is based on a “Christian humanism” that takes into account more than profit or self-interest.

In the third encyclical he has written, called Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), Pope Benedict wrote: “Once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks destroying wealth and creating poverty.

Corruption and illegality he said are unfortunately evident in the conduct of the economic and political class in rich countries, both old and new, as well as in poor ones.

Pope Benedict also condemned corruption and called on African leaders not to deprive its citizens of hope at a time of “too much violence.” Benedict issued the call during a speech at Benin’s presidential palace when he visited Africa.

He denounced corruption, warning it could lead to violent upheaval, while calling on African leaders not to rob citizens of hope on his second visit to the continent. He said there are too many scandals and injustices, too much corruption and greed, too many errors and lies, too much violence which leads to misery and to death.

On your second question, you should know that the Vatican Curia has long been seen as a mysterious, impenetrable bureaucracy that has run the Catholic Church regardless of who is pope.

Even Italian Pope John XXIII once told a group of friends: ”I am only the Pope here, but one of the rules of a bureaucracy is that those who preside over agencies can sometimes bend them to their will”.

Pope John Paul II has been operating on that premise as well, so does Pope Benedict and current one, Pope Francis. In many ways, he did not need to overcome the Curia at all; he was elected in part because conservative Curialists saw him as the right man to enforce a vision of the Church they had long held.

This is so even if some Italians in the Curia do not share the Pope’s passion for Poland or are uncomfortable with his style. All the same, Pope John Paul II has been among the most outstanding personalities during these last decades, with an impact far beyond the Roman Catholic Church and the Christian community world-wide.

During his pontificate, the Roman Catholic Church affirmed its universal vocation and strengthened its internal coherence. His commitment to social justice and reconciliation, to human rights and the dignity of the human person, as well as to Christian unity and inter-religious understanding, will be gratefully remembered.

Pope John II is also remembered for his openness and humility when he publicly apologized about Galileo on October 31, 1992. The Pope was concerned about clearing up a bad image of the Church in the eyes of the public, in which she was portrayed as the enemy of science.

He issued a declaration acknowledging the errors committed by the Church tribunal that judged the scientific positions of Galileo Galilei.

The most touching one was that of Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca who shot him on May 13, 1981. On January 27, 1983 the pope meets with him in prison and forgives him.

Agca, who had connections to a Turkish ultra-nationalist group, shot and seriously wounded Pope John Paul in St. Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981. He was apprehended immediately, tried in an Italian court and sentenced to life in prison.

Agca at first said he had acted alone. He later claimed the Soviet KGB and Bulgarian agents were involved in the papal shooting, but his alleged accomplices were acquitted in a second trial in 1986.

In 2000, with the pope’s support, Italy pardoned Agca and returned him to his native Turkey, where he began serving a sentence for the 1979 murder of a Turkish journalist.

In recent weeks, as his prison release date approached, Agca made several written statements, saying among other things that he wished to visit the tomb of Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.

Catholics and many non-Catholics alike had a deep affection for Pope John Paul II, a charismatic pontiff and great communicator. This is a pope who has visited more countries, met more of their citizens and spoken before more people, than any other current religious leader.

It can explain why on January 10, 1984 the United States re-establishes full diplomatic relations with the Vatican. On December 26, 1994, Time Magazine names Pope Johh Paul II its Man of the Year.

The pope made the headline again on March 16, 1998 when the Vatican released a formal apology to Jews for the Church’s failure to do more to prevent the Holocaust.

On March 12, 2000, the pope apologized for the Church’s mistreatment of Jews, non-Catholic Christians, women, the poor, and minorities over the last 2,000 years.

Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
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Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.

-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ
UN Disarmament
Conference, 2002