His Holiness Pope John Paul II

Prayers for Roman Catholics Christians everywhere

The Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Revd Michael Scott-Joynt: 

“On the death of Pope John Paul II Christians of every tradition, and not only Roman Catholics, will be thanking God for his remarkably courageous and consistent Christian life and witness; he had encouraged and challenged us all to a deeper faithfulness to Our Lord Jesus, and to a more faithful engagement in His name with the ethical and political issues of our times. 

“I count it as great privilege to have worshipped alongside him and to have lunched with him five years ago at the Ecumenical Commemoration at the Coliseum in Rome, of the Martyrs and Witnesses to Faith of the 20th Century – in every part of the world Christians of every Church had suffered and been killed, often together, for their faith. I was representing the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Anglican Communion on an occasion that was characteristic of the Pope John Paul II’s understanding of the calling of the Churches. Among the events of that Millennium Year he had the vision of this Ecumenical Commemoration. Talking with him that weekend I was able to see at first hand something both of his wide-ranging memory and interest – he asked me to bring his greetings to Archbishops Donald Coggan and Robert Runcie about both of whom he spoke warmly – and of his grasp of religious and political issues; disabled though he already was, he seemed then tough and determined rather than frail.

“The character and ‘feel’ of his life and faith were forged in the hard circumstances of his native Poland before, during and after the Second World War. As Pope he was able to make a unique contribution to the resolve not only of his own Polish people but of many others in Eastern Europe, and so to the fall of the Communist regimes and to the ending of the Cold War. 

“His passion for freedom and fundamental human rights for the world’s peoples was always held in harness with his Christian understanding of the religious and moral needs of humankind. He had been persistently staunch on the range of pressing ethical questions that have faced men and women everywhere in these decades, from abortion to cloning to marriage to the environment – and in every circumstance and crisis he had reminded political leaders of every kind of the imperative to make and keep peace, to attain their country’s ends without violence and aggression. He had held before his own and every other Church a clear ecumenical vision of God’s call to the Church to be One; and he has given a lead to us all to build relationships of respect and collaboration with the other major faiths.

“Through a long Papacy, I have found him an ever more powerful encouragement to faithfulness and hope as a Christian – and I am sure that this is the experience of millions of others. Our prayers at this time are for Roman Catholic Christians everywhere in the world – and especially, for those in our Partner Dioceses of Portsmouth and Florence.

“The last words of Friday's New Testament reading, from his namesake St. Paul, provided a striking summary both of the Pope John Paul II’s own faithful discipleship, and of God’s call to the rest of us which he has striven clearly to represent: 

‘Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immoveable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.’ (1 Corinthians 15.58)

The Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Revd Michael Scott-Joynt, is also the Co-chair of the English Anglican Roman Catholic Committee, which works to sustain and develop Anglican and Catholic relations in England and Wales.