Pope John Paul II's Powerful Message to the World - St. Louis Missouri.

The Significance of Pope John Paul II's Message

Pope John Paul is always welcomed in the United States without any doubt seeing the out-pour of affections from people's long lines in the streets to see him. The Pope utilizes his visit to St. Louis this January 26 -27, 1999 to reiterate his point about his call for the world to dignify life. He wants us to protect the life of the unborn, the lives of those already alive regarding his stand against death penalty and euthanasia. He wants us to reach out to others with love, kindness and to live a life in reflection of Christ's teachings. He calls for end to the violence of injustice, racism, abuse and lack of help for the poor. Pope John Paul realizes we are at the end of the millenium -- a crossroad, he is reaching our to everybody even beyond the circle of Catholicism. Consequently, he is calling on all people who believe in God to unite and work to improve human conditions. It was not by accidents he reaches out to all denominations of Christianity, Judaism, and also reaching out to non Christians including Muslims.

Pope John Paul realizes that religious persecution has caused great havoc all over the world and he is trying to deflate the anger and wars of divisiveness created by different religious factions. His greatest challenge in the United States is the conflict between religious beliefs and political positions. Pope is against death penalty which is very consistent with his stand against abortion. Many politicians (and some people) in the United States can not seem to see the conflict between supporting death penalty and being against abortion. The biggest issue however is the Pope's call for end to racism and injustice regarding the issue of human rights - - here the he is appealing to human conscience.

Human Conscience and the Healing: Human rights has always been a big issue in America's agenda in promoting goodwill to other nations under the banner of democracy. But, we are not able to look into our conscience like other nations need to do the same regarding how we treat people next door to us. Pope has seen the same situation in the Middle East, former Yugoslavia, African nations and many other places across the world. When Pope John Paul II calls for end to racism, prejudice and bigotry, he is telling America and the world that, it is not enough to stand against human rights violation internationally, but also to practice the same at home. We seem to be very comfortable living with inconsistencies of ideologies -- like the support of death penalty and  against abortion. The same with support of human rights outside the United States but the agenda is short when it comes to rights of minorities in America.

In referring to his appeal against the death sentence given to Darryl Mease -- he said, "If you want peace fight for justice." To many people, this is a slogan that means little or nothing. Although Jesus Christ himself supports some elements of capitalism, but was absolutely against predatory capitalism when human life is worthless because of the desire to make huge profits. Consequently, there are those who have been abandoned in society where others are handsomely rewarded and embraced due to a system based on the survival of the fittest.Pope John Paul II was trying hard to hit America's conscience that when a group of people are left in a state of  both financial and economic degradation -- and they find no way out, it is not unusual to see increase in criminal behavior in such groups. It should be made clear that the Pope is not trying to justify any criminal behavior, but calling us to look at the reasons why some crimes are committed so they can be averted. To him, it is important that a prison must be a place of rehabilitation. Forgiveness is part of the major lessons of Jesus' ministry.

Hurt and Despair Created  by Prejudice: I was interviewing an educated Black woman from St. Louis years ago about crime and punishment and the fairness of the American justice system. She indicated that America has great intolerance for people that are different or poor. She questioned me about how many rich people or well known people have been sentenced to death. She referred to the race relations in America by saying that, "Once the court sees a Black face, he is guilty before trial and there is no hope for justice." She added, "If I am falsely accused of a murder, I will not hesitate to commit suicide because there is no justice in the system for people of color  -- so why try?" This statement echoed the same point made by one of the gang members after the California riot due to Rodney King's merciless beating by the police. "When you have taken opportunities of economic survival away from a group of people, you see more violence because people become angry, since they find no way out," said one of the gang members.

However regarding the issue of prejudice and bigotry, society should look not necessarily at the individual person as much as the systems that perpetuate these social crimes. For example we should evaluate the continuous brain washing by the media against any group we love to hate. Examine institutionalized abuse, prejudice and bigotry and what these have done to a particular group we love to persecute. As a behavioral scientist, I have learned over the years that a person living in a particular group or society becomes a victim of convenient or comfortable prejudice and bigotry perpetuated by the system in place. A society can not destroy the evils of social crimes (invisible crimes) by the majority until the vehicles for creating and maintaining such crimes are dismantled. The victory of South African freedom from Apartheid is a typical example.

For many years, I vehemently refused to believe that the crime and violence experienced in the Black communities are created in part by racism, until recently. I met the mother of a very brilliant young Black male (a high school student) who was sent to jail for selling drugs. He was from a middle upper class family where he was taught good family values. However, he saw how his parents struggled on the job just to survive despite their hard work. He experienced police brutality in the street. When his mother asked him why he denigrated his life with crime? He answered, "I know that there is nothing you can do to please the Whites in this society -- they have the money, power and the weapons -- you can't swim against those types of powerful forces without losing." Sadly, the young boy has already given up! Although I don't excuse this young man's criminal behavior but his statement reiterated some of the serious social problems in America.

The truth is very hard to swallow, any explanation is quickly dismissed as excuses and the problems continue! When educated Blacks are subjected to institutionalized violence and abuse including targets for victimization, we are indirectly discouraging young Black children or other minorities. We are telling these groups that, no matter how hard they try, America as a nation may not embrace them let alone reward their hard work. American Blacks also need to work together putting cohesive systems in place to solve problems of the inner cities without waiting for the government to start such   initiates. Moreover, we can not ignore the hard work of people regardless of their racial identity who continuously fight the evils of bigotry, prejudice and injustice.

Forgiveness -- Dealing With Human Conscience: Pope John Paul II realizes our weaknesses as people. This is the primary reason why he is calling everybody to look inside their consciences about the way we treat others. Can we deal with human conscience, human ego and guilt? Of course we can. Look at people like the parents of Amy (their daughter was killed in South African) and a person like John Newton (1725-1807). Amy went to South Africa to fight for the rights of Blacks, being a young White lady, she was one day mistaken for one of the enemies -- she was killed by the same people she was fighting to protect. Her parents went to South Africa from the United States to see the situation surrounding her death. Later they were shocked to see the horrible lifestyle of the Black people living in huts compared to Whites who looted the wealth of the country living in mansions and refused to share it with the native Africans! Amy's parents were able to understand what led to the anger of the Blacks who killed their daughter. They became part of the solutions for the disadvantaged by building schools and creating economic opportunities for Blacks in South Africa. Amy's parents refused to be embittered by their daughter's death. Needless to say, the story brought tears to my eyes.

I was even more inspired when I read the story of John Newton a former slave ship captain who later fought for the freedom of slaves in Britain. He had been involved and experienced the malicious treatments of slaves in the ship regarding not only the physical abuse but also the rape and murder of Black women in the ship and the degradation of human entity being treated like animals.God came to him and utilized him as one of the instruments of freedom for slaves. His spiritual awakening was demonstrated in the song-- Amazing Grace. In human spiritual journey, the most touching part of the song  to me are these verses:

Undoubtedly, Amazing Grace was written as a song of repentance just like David wrote Psalm 51 after he had affair with Bathsheba -- killing her husband. We should never wait for anyone to tell us what we have done wrong. We should stand up against evil even when embraced by the majority  because it is commonly accepted -- such as what is presently happening in the former Yugoslavia! However, the human conscience may never die.

In his message to America and the whole world, Pope John Paul II is asking us to evaluate our  consciences in the way we choose to treat others. He wants us to let our lives be a reflection of the teachings of Christ, in forgiving and loving others as Jesus loves the church. Never hesitate to stand alone to fight for justice, fairness, liberty and the rights of all people in pursuit of happiness, even if we have to fight against the opinions of the majority. In the end, you will be proud to say, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, and I have kept the faith." II Timothy 4 vs.7.

Editorial by V. 'Yinka Vidal