Jitterbugging for Jesus

A Palestinian man carries a wounded boy after a peaceful march in Gaza erupted into carnage. (Photo by Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

From the “Stories That Make You Go Wow!” category, the pope described Palestinians as oppressed people.

Here’s an excerpt of the strong antiwar language from the antiwar pope in The New York Times:

It was a highly political Pope who stood this chilly morning on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, addressing tens of thousands of people who filled the vast square below him. Millions of others watched on television in 53 countries. …

“Lend an ear, humanity of our time,” [Pope John Paul II] said, speaking in Italian, “to the long-ignored aspiration of oppressed peoples, such as the Palestinians, the Lebanese, the Kurds, who claim the right to exist with dignity, justice and freedom — legitimate requests repeated in vain for years.”

Lebanon’s plight and the goal of a Palestinian homeland have long been familiar papal themes. But it was unusual for him to mention the Kurds, a transnational, largely Islamic group in the Middle East that for decades has sought territory for itself and whose members in Iraq are now fighting a civil war against President Saddam Hussein’s troops.

“I address myself to you, the leaders of nations, in this difficult hour of history,” he said. “Listen to the voice of the poor. Only upon an international order in which law and freedom are indivisible for all can the society we all hope for be founded.”

Throughout the gulf war, John Paul made his opposition abundantly plain, and several times the Vatican expressed frustration over the futility of the papal appeals for peace. From his remarks today, it was equally clear that his antiwar stand had not eased in the month that has passed since the guns were silenced.

In talking of the “darkness menacing the earth,” he did not single out any country for criticism. In fact, he never explicitly mentioned the gulf war at all. But the references to it were unmistakable, and in the circumspect language of papal discourse, they were emphatic and uncompromising.

At another point in his message, the Pope urged people to “say no to the lucrative arms trade, which you will replace with plans of genuine solidarity.”

— You can read the whole report, from April 1991, here.