"THE Hidden History of Our Time" is hardly the happiest of sub titles. In the present context, the phrase might suggest yet another conspiracy about the death of the Pope's immediate predecessor, or (even promise to reveal the Secret of the Catacombs and so shake the very foundations of Vatican power. Certainly, the much respected name of Carl Bernstein and the fact that his co author is an equally respected Italian specialist in Vatican affairs should bring sufficient reassurance. Still . . .
In fact, this is a very considerable piece of work, fair minded and sympathetic to its subject if bat times, critically so. This Pope's role on the world stage resists easy assessment, and although the authors speak of the "twilight" of his pontificate, the curtain has not yet fallen, nor is the story complete. I should be surprised if much here will demand later radical correction, although, inevitably, a longer perspective will require some revision of too close a view.
The first section of the book "Kolek" - the family diminutive of Karol Josef Wojtyla's first name - provides a decent and sensitive account of his early years. His mother died in 1929 when he was nine; his only brother, a medical doctor three years later. So, when he was still an adolescent, his was a single parent family; his father, a retired lieutenant in Pilsudki's army, was with him until 1941.
Despite these circumstances Wojtyla's youth and upbringing domestic and personal, in pre war Catholic Poland, in a melieu seriously devout but not puritanical mirrored that of many of his contemporaries in Catholic Ireland - the descriptions could then be used with some validity in the case of both countries. Things were never the same after the brutally efficient Nazi occupation when the Polish people were reduced to the status of Untermenschen - sub humans. Second and third level education was forbidden Wojtyla had completed his first university year in Krakow, but now must work as a manual labourer. However in 1942, a year after his father's death, he entered an "underground" seminary under the patronage of the then archbishop.
The heroic Warsaw rising of 1944 presaged the end of the long ordeal, but the Nazis engaged in one last throw, bringing a reign of terror in which Krakow suffered with the rest and had to wait several months for Soviet "liberation". When peace finally came and something, like normal life returned, Wojtyla could pursue his vocation only and was ordained priest in 1946. Alter two years' further studies in Rome he returned to work as a curate, first in a rural area and, from 1954, in a university parish in Dublin. But by then Stalinist "consolidation" was in full swing throughout Eastern Europe, and religious ministry, while nominally free, was difficult and constricted - not least for Wojtyla, who had especially dedicated himself to the pastoral care of young people. But he persisted in his work throughout the ups and downs of the post Stalinist period, and was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Krakow in 1958.
The first sixth of this study dealing with the early life of Karol Wojtyla before he became internationally known is, I believe, the key to much of what follows, and to gaining some understanding of the mind set of its subject, as well as some of the apparent contradictions in both his personality and the style and substance of his ministry.
Thus, his mother's early death is often seen as having two important implications: his obvious and deeply felt devotion to the Mother of, God, and his strongly held opinions on the role of women in society as well as in the Church. Without, happily, any recourse to amateur psychologising, the authors offer some pertinent insights and conclusions in this and other relevant matters. Many of the attitudes and policies of his Papacy have clearly been formed and reinforced by his own experience of both Nazi and Communist totalitarianism - along with, of course, an ingrained and almost mystical commitment to his Polish duchas.
But we are also reminded of two facts which inhibit generalisation. First, coming as he did from a country and culture often seriously besmirched by anti Semitism, he has maintained a deep reverence for the Jewish heritage and respect for the Jewish people rooted perhaps in very early close friendships with Jewish neighbours. Secondly, following the fall of the Communist "empire", he became a vigorous critic and opponent of "Western consumerism" and has not hesitated to acknowledge the "seeds of truth in Maixism and the good things achieved by Communism: its effort to overcome unemployment and its concern for the poor. He was, of course, bitterly disappointed by developments in post Marxist Poland and what he saw as a slide into Western decadence, not least in relation to abortion and sexual morality.
His strong convictions, but also his vigorous humanity, had begun to attract wide attention, first in the Sixties at Vatican II, and then as a cardinal who became a close adviser to Pope Paul VI, and, from 1978, the first non Italian Pope for centuries. In the section of the present volume entitled "Shaking the Empire", we read how he attracted the admiring attention of what became known as the "Catholic mafia" in Washington, leading, especially during the Reagan years, to a period of remarkably close collaboration. This undoubtedly served to undermine the communist regime in Poland, but its dark side, was the Pope's quite extraordinary support of US backed regimes in Latin America.
His inflexibility on a wide range of issues seemed to harden, and in the internal affairs of the Church his negative attitudes and authoritarian behaviour towards several leading theologians, towards certain bishops, and even the Society of Jesus, traditionally his most loyal corps d'elite, has led to widespread criticism and even resentment. As against this, his ecumenical vision widened beyond the Christian horizon, and the inter faith gathering which he convened at Assisi in 1986 was the first expression of his hopes for a great fellowship of believing men and women in the new millennium.
A man for many seasons, of many concerns, and many gifts. In the heyday of, his pontificate he became recognised as a great performer" amateur theatre was one of his youthful enthusiasms, though his early creativity as poet and playwright developed in other directions. An active devotee of skiing, he was also by temperament and inclination a contemplative and a philosopher. Some of the most interesting pages of this book deal with his collaboration in the 1970s with a Polish phenomenological philosopher married to a Harvard professor, Anna Teresa Tymenieka, with whom he developed a strong personal and professional rapport and to whose work and influence he has paid tribute. On the other hand, in 1994 he gave very short shrift to Madame Nafis Sadik, Under Secretary of the UN Conference on Population and Development "her jaw dropped at his reception". But this was a rare discourtesy.
However, he never spared himself. Tireless in his toils and travels, he has shown less concern for his health than do those who care for him. One of these, "his guardian angel in the Vatican", Sister Eufrozja, is reported as saying: "I'm worried about your Holiness!" His reply: "I'm worried about my holiness too" . . .