Pope John Paul II has been hospitalized. Don’t panic; it may not be the end.
Meanwhile, though, one of the TV reports described him as “beloved around the world”. Which made me wonder: has there ever been a Pope, recent or historical, who wasn’t “beloved”?
Mea culpa: I should have said “whom” in the title.
Well, that one’s tricky – personal mass popularity with the Catholic rank-and-file would only be a consideration for Popes in the age of fast communications, or back when he was the hands-on leader of an “alternative religion” in imperial Rome. During the period between, say, 321 and 1900, for the vast majority of Catholics on the planet “The Pope” was sort of an abstraction, and Rome could have as well been on another planet if not for missionaries and Inquisitors showing up at your door. His Holiness was supposed to inspire awe, not love.
I’m pretty sure a bunch of the Popes from the Borgia and Medici dynasties had a large crowd who would have liked nothing better than to have His Holiness found floating face-down on the Tiber; and conversely, Popes who would be mightily popular with the man-in-the-strada in Rome or Avignon and surrounding provinces, where the people would get to know their everyday actions rather than an ocassional pastoral letter; but nobody conducted a Gallup Poll. For most of the history of the Papacy, the only people the Pope really needed to be well-liked by were the Cardinals and whatever kings/emperors had large standing armies within marching distance of Rome.
I can off the top of my head think of only two modern Popes who seem to have a natural constituency of “loving” fans – John XXIII and JP-II. Everyone else recent (Paul VI and all those Piuses from the late 19th and early-mid 20th Century; JP-I lasted too little) seems to just have been held in respectful esteem (at best).
I see. Thank you.
Pope Urban VI was no gem. He was, in fact, so bad that they elected another Pope, leading to 40 years or so of Papal Schism.
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I can off the top of my head think of only two modern Popes who seem to have a natural constituency of “loving” fans – John XXIII and JP-II.
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Of course, John XXIII’s legacy was somewhat analogous to U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt’s. While both were loved by many for the reforms they helped bring to fruition, they also incited displeasure among conservatives. Many Catholics (including my father) stopped attending Mass regularly, or even quit attending church altogether, after the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council (popularly known as Vatican II).