The first official papal visit to South Africa spells the end of the era of ‘Roomse gevaar’, reports Pat Sidley
SOMEWHERE in the Free State is a garage owner who will be wondering if the Vatican will spend a penny in his toilets this weekend.
It happened in 1988, when the pope landed unexpectedly at Jan Smuts Airport en route to Lesotho because, it was said, the security situation in Lesotho was too dangerous at that moment.
Never one to miss an opportunity, then-Foreign Minister Pik Botha had arrived with a truckload of food, journalists and a bulletproof car to take the pope into
Despite his infallibility, the pope is, at the end of the day, human and, when nature called, it caused a slight stir as this had not been planned for.
According to a priest in a position to know, the police radioed ahead to the next town’s police to arrange the papal passing of holy water at a local garage. The garage owner refused point blank to accept that this was no hoax.
Eventually, with the further persuasion of top brass, he spruced up his loos (presumably all white at the time) and then, as a gesture of goodwill, the surprised garage owner presented the pope with a Coke and a straw.
That garage owner had, in all likelihood, been brought up fearful of the “Roomse Gevaar”. It’s a fear that dates back to the break from Catholicism in the 16th century, says Dutch Reformed Church leader, Professor Piet Meiring.
For many years after Van Riebeeck landed, the only church allowed in the Cape was the Dutch Reformed Church — which co-existed uneasily with Islam after the importation of slaves from Malaya.
This feeling of danger was in full cry in the 1950s, with attempts to stop immigration from countries predominantly Catholic, and was given a boost in the 1960s when Dennis Hurley, a troublesome priest, led the Catholic Bishops against apartheid — a role he continued to carry out until the system came to an end.
This first official visit of Pope John Paul II marks the first major and official celebration of this church in South Africa, and puts an end to any vestige of “gevaar” from the “Romans”.
The pontiff will give a mass at Gosforth Park race course on Sunday, but his two- day visit is not a state visit, although the pope will be meeting President Nelson Mandela at the president’s request. Nor is it a pastoral visit, which would entail at least a fortnight of visits to many areas where Catholics live.
He is coming to present the results of the African Synod of Bishops, held recently in Rome. This process begins in Cameroon on Friday and moves from South Africa to Kenya early next week, where the pope will talk to the African bishops and present his findings after his deliberations — the very undemocratic way of establishing policy within the church.
The issues have been debated within the church since the 1970s and involve some ticklish theological subjects including, as Father Sean O’Leary of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference put it, “how to marry the concepts of faith with scientific evolution” — the marriage of culture and faith.
More crudely put, some of these issues include how the church should view the practices of its African adherents, most of whom speak languages which cannot be used in the translation of liturgy, prayers and other Catholic rituals, and many of whom still worship ancestors one way or another, and observe many other cultural practices which are not a part of pure Catholic ritual.
“There is no doubt that the gospel message in Africa is wrapped up in the blankets of Western culture. The issue is how to unwrap this Western culture,” says O’Leary. “Rome is afraid of this.”
The synod got off to a rocky start with the Vatican’s decision that it be held in Rome and not in Africa. In the end, the bishops from Africa brought their own agenda and it “wasn’t a total failure”.
“But how seriously Rome took them will only be known now,” says O’Leary.
Aside from this, the pope is expected to make some statement of condemnation of what was wrong in South Africa’s past, and present a voice of reconciliation and
This pope, despite his conservatism, is immensely popular. He has travelled more than any other popes and is seen as having brought the church to the people.
Despite both his theological and political conservatism, he did not stop South African bishops and priests from participating actively in the anti-apartheid struggle. And the church sanctioned (although after a scuffle) the presence of a priest, Father Smangaliso Mkatshwa, in Parliament. This is a particularly rare
His appointments of bishops and cardinals in other countries have reflected his conservatism, but the South African appointments of bishops have reflected a “hands off” policy where this country was concerned.
This, says O’Leary, is probably due in large part to the sensible appointment some years ago of the Nuncio (then the Apostolic Delegate) Archbishop Ambrose di Paoli. His predecessor had lasted in the post for a mere 10 months and was quietly removed after trying to push the line that the church should not meddle in politics.