Press pays last respects to pope

The Pope's image made the front page of all Swiss newspapers swissinfo.ch

The Swiss press has paid homage to Pope John Paul II, calling him one of the most influential figures in recent history.

While the newspapers praised the pontiff for his commitment to human rights, some also criticised his conservative approach to theological and moral issues.

The Basler Zeitung stressed that relations between the Pope and Switzerland were far from smooth. It mentioned that 41 Swiss pastors and Catholic figures had called on John Paul II to resign at the end of last year.

It also reminded readers of the treatment meted out to Hans Küng. The Vatican revoked the Swiss theologian’s licence to teach at Catholic universities in 1979 after he became one of the first leading Catholics to question papal infallibility.

Küng himself was quoted in the Sunday papers as saying that John Paul had left the church suffering “from a confidence crisis” and that the Pope’s ecumenical work had led to a “weakening in faith and the defence of truth”.

The Neue Zürcher Zeitung kept to a neutral tone, highlighting Karol Wojtyla’s role in shaping history at the end of the 20th century. This included his support for the Solidarity movement in his native Poland and its contribution to the collapse of Communism in the Eastern bloc countries.

A day earlier, the NZZ’s sister newspaper, the NZZ am Sonntag, said the Roman Catholic Church had lost its influence in the Western world under John Paul II’s leadership.

Switzerland mourns

The Blick tabloid emphasised the Swiss face of mourning; it said “hundreds, if not thousands” of Catholics gathered at the Mariastein monastery in northwestern Switzerland to pray for the deceased pope.

Similarly, Zurich’s Tages-Anzeiger talked to young people who had helped organise the Pope’s visit to Bern last year. Christina Szepeshazy said she had been impressed by the man’s energy, after meeting him at a youth event.

“We have lost a unique person; he showed us that, even with a disability and illness, we can achieve anything,” Szepeshazy said.

The paper also interviewed Agnell Rickenmann, the Swiss Bishops’ Conference’s secretary-general, who was full of praise for the third longest-serving pope.

“John Paul II was a brave pope who was full of surprises; he tried to unify the church through his commitment to justice and peace,” Rickenmann said.

He brushed off the claim that John Paul saw things in black and white; referring to the latter’s opposition to the ordination of women priests, Rickenmann said: “That John Paul II had a clear position on this was a sign for me that he was trying to unify [the church].”

The Tages-Anzeiger added that John Paul II’s successor would “live in the shadow” of a pontiff whose record as God’s representative would be impossible to match.

Most commentators are united in the view that big challenges lie ahead for the next pope.

“John Paul the Great” will almost certainly be made a saint, which means his rules will become almost sacrosanct, leaving little room for his immediate successor to make fundamental changes.

Swiss cardinal

The coverage in the Swiss-French press was largely complimentary of the Pope’s reign, notwithstanding his tendency to polarise moral issues.

The Tribune de Genève, while surprised at the flood of sympathy among those “shocked” by John Paul’s conservative views on abortion and contraception, had an explanation for the phenomenon.

“Even societies which are secular, rational and individualistic need a voice that reminds them of the simple truth: man is not a commodity,” it explained.

Fribourg’s La Liberté, the nearest thing to a Catholic newspaper in western Switzerland, carried an interview with Henri Schwery, the only Swiss cardinal admitted to the conclave, which will choose the next pope.

Schwery shed a light on the closed procedure traditionally used to fill a papal vacancy and asked what he thought of the current media speculation about the next head of the Roman Catholic Church.

“It makes me laugh and I have never heard the cardinals speculating about who might succeed John Paul,” said Schwery.

He admitted that he was unsure about who he might choose, divided as he was between those who had experience in the field and those who had only worked within the walls of the Vatican.

swissinfo, Faryal Mirza

Key facts

Rome is bracing itself for up to two million mourners for the funeral of John Paul II, set to take place later this week.
Karol Wojtyla, a Pole, was the third longest-serving pope in the history of Christianity and the first non-Italian in more than 450 years to hold the title.
It is up to 117 cardinals to decide on a successor.