Finding answers to the pandemic in the writings of Saint Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II, who took on communism during his papacy, greets pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square. Wikipedia Commons photo.
(OPINION) It was in January when Chinese President Xi Jinping told the head of the World Health Organization that the novel coronavirus that had infected people throughout the province of Wuhan was a “demon.”
“The epidemic is a demon, and we cannot let this demon hide,” Xi said during a meeting in Beijing with Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who heads the WHO. “The government has always adopted an open, transparent and responsible attitude to the timely release of information on the epidemic to domestic and foreign countries.”
That was an ironic statement from the leader of a communist nation known for being both atheist and anything but honest. Labeling COVID-19 in terms of good versus evil is also ironic given his country’s history of human rights abuses. His second statement — about his government being “open” and “transparent” — is also proving false as the contagion leaves a trail of dead bodies across Europe and now the United States.
This virus is a demon in so many ways. It has taken the lives of scores of people around the world. I have had friends die and others get sick over the past few weeks. On a larger societal scale, it pits young against old, rich and poor, urban residents and rural ones and religious people and agnostics. It has exposed the limitations of democracies to contain the pandemic as well as cast doubt on the benefits of globalization. It has changed the meaning of what it means to be pro-life in a manner more akin to a dystopian sci-fi film rather than a political debate.
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to unleash societal upheaval across social, religious, political and economic systems across the world, a 29-year-old document could very well be a panacea for what ails us these days and for what’s to come in the following months and years. Was the absence of God the reason for the virus? In a way, it was, but not how some people of faith see it. God didn’t cause such a plague, but man did in the form of communism and China’s repressive regime. What did they know about the virus and when did they know it matters.
What also matters is the inequities within Chinese society and the desperate measures some take in order to find food. Some street vendors use cooking oil that has been pulled from waste in Wuhan’s wet markets, where bats and other wild animals are eaten. Why viruses keep sprouting up in China and how their people are themselves victims of the conditions that led to the virus spreading. This pandemic has led to xenophobia against Asians around the world, another evil side effect of this virus, when people’s ire should be aimed at the conditions that led to where we are today.
JPII’s view on communism
It was on May 1, 1991 that Saint Pope John Paul II, who headed the Catholic church at the time, issued a 25,000-word encyclical called Centesimus Annus (Latin for The Hundredth Year) that addressed the socio-economic upheaval across Eastern Europe stemming from the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and ultimately the collapse of the Soviet Union. An uprising in Tiananmen Square that same year by students was eventually squashed by the Chinese government. It’s in this context that the Polish-born pontiff, a staunch anti-communist, goes into great detail about the moral and philosophical lessons that could be grasped by this oppressive form of government.
While China remains a totalitarian state that Human Rights Watch has said continues to torture its citizens and deny them basic rights, it is also a system that helped to breed a virus that has ultimately led to the death of thousands of people in their country (as many as 40,000 by one estimate) and around the world. In recent years, the Chinese government has also tightened its authoritarian grip by cracking down on Christian and Muslim minorities.
At the same time, the party scrapped term limits for the presidency, a move that highlights Xi’s increased stranglehold on power and the government’s repression. Even the Vatican gave in to China in 2018 after Pope Francis agreed to recognize seven Chinese bishops who were appointed by Beijing without the Vatican’s approval. The decision has divided China’s Catholics, with critics arguing that it will damage the church’s moral authority.
With regards to COVID-19, the first cases were reported in Wuhan in December. Human-to-human transmission of the virus was confirmed a month later as government officials feared possible political backlash. By censoring such information, the country’s communist party put the Chinese and the world at risk.
JP II’s encyclical is a refutation of Marxist ideology and condemns regimes that practice it. He also uses the document to expound on issues of social and economic justice. All three of these have come to the forefront once again — and will continue to be in a post-virus world. The following remains one of the key phrases from the encyclical:
Man fulfills himself by using his intelligence and freedom. In so doing he utilizes the things of this world as objects and instruments and makes them his own. The foundation of the right to private initiative and ownership is to be found in this activity. By means of his work man commits himself, not only for his own sake but also for others and with others. Each person collaborates in the work of others and for their good. Man works in order to provide for the needs of his family, his community, his nation, and ultimately all humanity.
In another key section of the encyclical, John Paul II, the second longest-serving pope in modern history, writes about the Soviets and communist regimes of Eastern Europe, like the one in his homeland. He may as well be talking about the Chinese government in 2020.
In the totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, the principle that force predominates over reason was carried to the extreme. Man was compelled to submit to a conception of reality imposed on him by coercion, and not reached by virtue of his own reason and the exercise of his own freedom. This principle must be overturned and total recognition must be given to the rights of the human conscience, which is bound only to the truth, both natural and revealed. The recognition of these rights represents the primary foundation of every authentically free political order. It is important to reaffirm this latter principle for several reasons:
a) because the old forms of totalitarianism and authoritarianism are not yet completely vanquished; indeed there is a risk that they will regain their strength. This demands renewed efforts of cooperation and solidarity between all countries;
b) because in the developed countries there is sometimes an excessive promotion of purely utilitarian values, with an appeal to the appetites and inclinations towards immediate gratification, making it difficult to recognize and respect the hierarchy of the true values of human existence;
c) because in some countries new forms of religious fundamentalism are emerging which covertly, or even openly, deny to citizens of faiths other than that of the majority the full exercise of their civil and religious rights, preventing them from taking part in the cultural process, and restricting both the Church's right to preach the Gospel and the rights of those who hear this preaching to accept it and to be converted to Christ. No authentic progress is possible without respect for the natural and fundamental right to know the truth and live according to that truth. The exercise and development of this right includes the right to discover and freely to accept Jesus Christ, who is man's true good.
Those last two sentences are key. The Chinese population is a victim of this oppressive regime. And in a way, we have all become oppressed the past few weeks by losing our freedom to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. You can’t pursue any of that if you are locked in your home and scared to go out.
Economic progress and human dignity
But the papal document isn’t limited to religion and freedom. It remains the biggest defender of a free market economy — with Catholic social teachings in the mix as a fail-safe to help workers — ever written by a pope. The economy is also a major part of this virus and the forced shutdowns we have all had to endure. This is what John Paul II wrote regarding capitalism:
The modern business economy has positive aspects. Its basis is human freedom exercised in the economic field, just as it is exercised in many other fields. Economic activity is indeed but one sector in a great variety of human activities, and like every other sector, it includes the right to freedom, as well as the duty of making responsible use of freedom. But it is important to note that there are specific differences between the trends of modern society and those of the past, even the recent past. Whereas at one time the decisive factor of production was the land, and later capital — understood as a total complex of the instruments of production — today the decisive factor is increasingly man himself, that is, his knowledge, especially his scientific knowledge, his capacity for interrelated and compact organization, as well as his ability to perceive the needs of others and to satisfy them.
In should be noted that JPII, after having condemned Liberation Theology, lambasted some of the more extreme versions of capitalism in the later years of his papacy and once the Iron Curtain had been crushed. He also saw in capitalism what he aptly called “viruses” like materialism and atheism.
It was the 19th century German philosopher Karl Marx who viewed religion as the “opium of the people.” Those who live in democratic states like the U.S. are experiencing all the challenges that comes with living in a communist-run dictatorship. There are empty shelves in grocery stores, houses of worship that are shuttered, an economy in shambles, medical care that may not be there and an overall fear of going out and interacting with others.
Who’s to blame for the coronavirus pandemic? It’s not really a difficult whodunit to figure out. If you are out of work, or can’t visit your family or unable to attend Easter services, there’s more than just a virus preventing you from doing all this. Just look to a system that rejects freedom and God: China’s Communist Party is the culprit.
Clemente Lisi is a senior editor and regular contributor to Religion Unplugged. He is the former deputy head of news at the New York Daily News and teaches journalism at The King’s College in New York City. Follow him on Twitter @ClementeLisi.