Pope Sought and Offered Forgiveness

April 3, 2005 — -- At the heart of all Christian doctrine is the concept of forgiveness, and Pope John Paul II made that concept one of the most impressive aspects of his legacy, both in the way he sought forgiveness and in the way he practiced it himself.

"The call as a Christian, it's like Jesus from the cross saying 'Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,'" said the Rev. Thomas Reese, author of "Inside the Vatican." "If we're supposed to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, we have to do that and forgive our enemies, [to] forgive people who hate us and try and harm us. That's pretty tough to do, but when you're Pope, you've got to do tough things."

Vatican scholars say one of the hallmarks of Pope John Paul II's pontificate was his work toward both giving and seeking forgiveness.

Five years ago, on the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of Christ, John Paul did something no pope had ever done before, admitting the church's mistakes throughout history.

"One of the most important things he did in his pontificate was to hold this service of forgiveness," said the Rev. Richard McBrien, a Notre Dame theology professor and author of "Lives of the Popes." "In this case, it was the church asking forgiveness, acknowledging its sins against various peoples and groups and then asking their forgiveness."

The pope was apologizing for Catholic sins that ranged back through the decades and the centuries.

"He apologized to the Jewish community, to the Muslim community, to the scientific community for Galileo," Reese said. "He felt this was an important part of what we should be about. And he called on people and even nations to be forgiving in their relations with one another."

He knew his history, and he believed that the Crusades were an abomination in which many Catholics in Europe used the excuse of religion to invade the Middle East and to brutally slaughter Muslims and Jews.

But it was not just wrongdoing from centuries back in church history that he acknowledged. John Paul also felt the need to seek forgiveness for things he'd seen firsthand.