Pope John Paul II...
God's Greatest Lawyer

by Debra Opri - Attorney and Legal Analyst

      In those first hours after hearing the news of the death of one of the world's greatest moral leader, it occurred to me that this distinctly compassionate and dedicated man was perhaps our greatest champion of the moral laws of our generation. I pictured him in the greatest courtroom of our world.... the house of God. I heard him orate and argue his greatest ideals before our greatest judge, God, himself. I sat, humbled, that this one man, beholden to that one God, cared so much for so many, such to spend his many years in the house of God arguing the laws of morality according to the word of God.
     I do not presuppose that our Holy Father was anything similar to what the majority of lawyers really are. I only imagine that should his lifelong debate of the morality of our societal actions have been judged as simply as a lawyer's arguments at time of trial, how easier it would have been to have his arguments win out over those of other world leaders. Perhaps, then, would our world have been different.
      In my own way, I have judged the moral positions of the Vatican since youth. I had long soured on the contradictions of the Vatican's teachings when I saw the harsh reality of priests who were child molesters long concealed by the Church, being transferred from place to place, rather than extricating them. I considered the refusal of the Church to recommend the use of condoms for Aids prevention, when, in fact, millions were spreading this disease. I questioned the morality of birth control issues and the death penalty. These issues have been ever present in our society with no resolution of the differences of the Church and State, despite the strength of the Pope's public arguments and personal convictions.
      In the end, even the politics of the Vatican was bigger than Pope John Paul II. He was, in the end, a lawyer in a big firm. Yes, he may have been the head partner of the Vatican, but, like everyone else, he had policies to push, and a business to run.
      While the numbers were dwindling in the Catholic Church, Pope John Paul II, sought to build its membership by seeking out the youth. He traveled the world over 26 years, speaking directly to the young. He sought a new generation of Catholics, and he did, in his last years, begin to reap the rewards of his campaign. The youth did start coming back to the Church.
      In the end, like the rest of the world, I mourn the passing of perhaps the greatest man we will ever know in this lifetime. But, unlike most, I will always liken Pope John Paul II, to that of a great lawyer arguing the moral laws in the courtroom of the House of God, before the Judge we know as God.
      Pope John Paul II gave his life to a quest for peace here on Earth, if not for anything more than for the future of humanity. He was a man who had seen the worst of World War II, and he lived to see a world where evil has continued in ever increasing forms. Despite these continuing confrontations, Pope John Paul II spoke only the Word of God, and he used these words in every argument he made throughout his life.
      We need more leaders like him. Now more than ever.
      From the courtroom to your living room, this has been another edition of THE OPRI OPINION.