On the plane heading back to Rome from World Youth Day in Rio, Pope Francis was asked to describe Pope John Paul II.
“I think of him as ‘the great missionary of the Church,'” the Holy Father responded, “because he was a man who proclaimed Gospel everywhere.”
When I read this, a couple of questions came to mind…
First, did he really?
Did he really proclaim a fully Catholic understanding of the Gospel, one that communicates with utter clarity the mission of the Church as given by the Lord? Did he “everywhere” call heathens, heretics, humanists and various other practitioners of the many false religions of the world to enter the One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of which he himself was the visible head, so that they may be united with us under his authority, in one Faith, partaking of the same sacraments?
Even John Paul II’s most devoted fans (and I use this word deliberately as it seems to best describe the disconnect between the reality of his papacy and the sentimental praise heaped upon his blessed memory) realize that the answer to these questions is a resounding no.
The next question that entered my mind as I tried to make sense of Pope Francis’ assessment of his predecessor as a missionary extraordinaire was simply this: Based on the “gospel” he preached most often, couldn’t one say the very same thing of Billy Graham?
With this in mind, I decided to take a look at some of Billy Graham’s sermons. Go ahead, try it for yourself.
What you’ll discover is that Graham often speaks of following Christ in a largely generic, nondenominational sense; he has a deep affinity for inter-religious dialogue and often addresses non-Christians, both directly and indirectly, in rather glowing terms, though he does stop short of invoking the intercession of the Saints to “protect Islam,” as John Paul II did.
In other words, while you won’t find any sermons on the Most Holy Eucharist or the glories of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Billy Graham’s body of work, his preaching in many ways sounds like much of the magisterium of John Paul II, a pope he once described as “an evangelist who sought to speak to the spiritual hunger of our age in the same way Christians throughout the centuries have spoken to the spiritual yearning of every age — by pointing people to Christ.”
Perhaps most noteworthy of all as it applies to being a “great missionary,” Billy Graham calls men to conversion to the Holy Roman Catholic Church just about as often as Pope John Paul II did, all of which leads to one final question:
Once Billy Graham passes from this life, how long will it take before a chorus of “santo subito” arises from the ranks of the same undernourished Catholics who refer to John Paul II as “the Great?”
By refraining from the use of the royal “We” in his letters, as well as terms like “heathens,etc.” JPII’s writings focus more on Christ than the pre-conciliar popes.
No mention of the Masons, and other clandestine groups, serves as a magnifying glass on the Blessed Trinity and not on the pitfalls of the world.
As for his assessment of culture, spot on: “masters of suspicion”, “culture of death”, “atheistic communism”, etc.–all without using the phrases ‘heathen’ or ‘right hand of Satan’ (as Leo XIII did).
I may be a naive fan of JPII, but he personally helped form me as a Catholic and has taught me much more than I ever learned by studying Church history.
Dear Louie,
I can’t help but think that “Harvesting the Fruit” is a misnomer…it hints of sarcasm and unedifying worldliness.
There is no mention of fruit in any of these pages. All it says is that we should return to the days when the Church was most vital: AKA pre-conciliar Church. How does this aid the mission of the New Evangelization? Unless the implication is that the New Evangelization is that everyone learn Latin (I’m already set there, and I’ll teach my son the same). But what about the Blessed Trinity? What about honoring the legacy of recent saints?
This movement seems counter-productive to what George Weigel wrote in Evangelical Catholicism. Let’s instead proclaim Christ on the rooftops and in the streets, inviting guests into our homes for prayerfilled meals and discussion of our Catholic faith!
About using words like ,,Right hand of Satan”, what is wrong with that?
,,Get behind me, Satan”, ,,You belong to your father the devil and you willingly carry out your father’s desires.”, these are the word of God himself.
Why we shouldn’t speak like him?
And about Blessed Trinity. Louie speak more about Kingship of Christ that anyone I hear. Whitout him I would’t know anything, about his severnity in any way that is not blur and at lest in some way sentimental. If this is not giving honor to Blessed Trinity, what is?
Sorry for my pour english
Does anyone pray the Luminous Mysteries, or the Chaplet of Divine Mercy? JPII was inspired by the Holy Spirit to institute those…
“and has taught me much more than I ever learned by studying Church history.”
This is a new spin. I’ve heard of people who think everything was bad until VII, but now everything was bad until JPII came along? That Aquinas, what a dumbbell. And Pius IX, forget him! That Leo XIII, he talked about Masons. How dare he!
And who says the Holy Spirit inspired JPII to institute the Luminous Mysteries? Maybe he just did it because he thought it was a good idea. That’s like the ridiculous ‘the Holy Spirit directly chooses each Pope, thus there can never be a wrong pick’ stuff that’s been going around.
Dear Samwise.
I stick with the Traditional Rosary.
As for the rash bid that Pope John Paul II focused on Jesus more than did pre V2 Popes, I’ll see your claim and raise you Pope Saint Pius X
I am not Spartacus September 20, 2013 5:35 pm
As for the rash bid that Pope John Paul II focused on Jesus more than did pre V2 Popes, I’ll see your claim and raise you Pope Saint Pius X
-Well played sir, well played. That will stop the JPII lovers any day.
Mr Samwise:
I not only recite the Luminous Mysteries, but also the Awesomest Mysteries, the Wunderbar Musteris and the Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Mysteries!!