The death of a reactionary

Karl Marx wrote that religion is “the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions.” For most followers, Christianity and Catholicism offer comfort in an unjust world. Church figures like the pope are associated with a system of ideas that helps people cope in the here and now, and gives them hope of a better world in the afterlife. That’s why so many Catholics can claim to be believers, even while living lives that are wholly opposed to the church’s musty dogma on issues like sexuality. Likewise, some social activists take inspiration from their Catholicism--with its Biblical injunctions to stand up for the downtrodden--in organizing against war and for social justice. But as an institution, the Catholic Church has always been on the side of the exploiters and oppressors--as probably the richest and most powerful institution throughout the last millennium, and a chief prop of an unjust system to this day. From the Crusades to conquer Muslim lands, to the Inquisition that tortured Jews and dissenters, to collaborating with Nazis during the Holocaust, the Catholic Church hierarchy has maintained itself by accommodating to the ruling class of the day. John Paul II stood squarely in that tradition. He doesn’t deserve to be remembered as a hero who opposed tyranny, but as a reactionary who did his utmost to preserve an institution built on bigotry, intolerance and injustice.

John Paul II, the Death of a Reactionary
By ALAN MAASS
Socialist Worker
April 8, 2005