WASHINGTON – As a 37-year-old priest, then-Father Donald W.
Wuerl witnessed the election of Pope John Paul II in 1978, as
reportedly the only noncardinal allowed into that conclave.
He was priest-secretary to U.S. Cardinal John Wright, who was
then in frail health, and he assisted the churchman at the
conclave.
That priest is now a cardinal and the archbishop of
Washington. On May 1, he will be among the cardinals from
throughout the world who will join Pope Benedict XVI in
concelebrating the beatification Mass for Pope John Paul II.
On April 14, Cardinal Wuerl’s latest book, The Gift of
Blessed John Paul II: A Celebration of His Enduring
Legacy, was published by the Word Among Us Press. Known
himself as a teacher of the faith, Cardinal Wuerl in his new
book examines the teachings of Pope John Paul and applies
them to everyday life.
“The gift of John Paul was not just his words, but his
message, his life, his witness,” Cardinal Wuerl told the
Catholic Standard, Washington’s archdiocesan
newspaper. “He never stopped being a man of faith, and he
never stopped being what God called him to be, a man of God,
as a priest, later as a bishop and eventually as the pope.”
In 1978, then-Father Wuerl watched as the newly elected pope
appeared on the balcony above St. Peter’s Square, and later
as Pope John Paul gave his first homily and said the words,
“Open wide the doors for Christ.”
In the introduction to his new book, Cardinal Wuerl recalls
that moment and its impact: “The image was a dramatic one –
the doors being broken off their hinges to make way for
Christ into our hearts and into our world.”
Cardinal Wuerl also describes how the new pope’s words “Be
not afraid!” became a rallying cry, as he encouraged people
to find hope and meaning in their lives through Christ.
Those phrases became a touchstone for the papacy. Pope John
Paul’s first encyclical letter the next year, “Redemptor
Hominis” (“The Redeemer of Man”) began with the phrase: “The
redeemer of man, Jesus Christ, is the center of the universe
and of history.”
Cardinal Wuerl noted that Pope John Paul brought this message
to the world at a time of much confusion and doubt.
“He stepped onto the world stage and onto the platform of St.
Peter’s Basilica to remind the whole world that we don’t have
to be afraid, there is truth, that God loves us, that Jesus
is the way. And then for two and one-half decades, he went
all over the world repeating that life-giving proclamation,
‘Be not afraid, the risen Christ is with us.'”
Before coming to Washington, the cardinal was an auxiliary
bishop of Seattle. He was ordained to the episcopacy in 1986
by Pope John Paul at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The new
bishop received from the pope his personal miter, one he had
worn on a pastoral visit to Holland.
For Bishop Wuerl, that miter remained “a powerful bond” with
the pope. The bishop was then named to lead his home Diocese
of Pittsburgh in 1988, and was appointed as Washington’s
archbishop in 2006, the year after Pope John Paul’s death. In
fall of 2010, Pope Benedict elevated Cardinal Wuerl to the
College of Cardinals.
In 2003, then-Bishop Wuerl returned to Rome to concelebrate
Pope John Paul’s Mass marking the 25th anniversary of his
pontificate.
“We all knew his health was failing, and I wanted to have one
more chance to celebrate Mass with him,” Cardinal Wuerl said.
During his years as a bishop, Cardinal Wuerl wrote articles
and gave talks about Pope John Paul II’s encyclicals and
apostolic exhortations soon after they were issued. Known for
his work on behalf of Catholic education, the cardinal wrote
“The Teaching of Christ” and “The Catholic Way,” both
best-selling catechisms for adults, and he co-wrote the new
Doubleday book “The Mass: The Glory, the Mystery, the
Tradition.”
Cardinal Wuerl also participated in two of the Synods of
Bishops that formed the basis of Pope John Paul’s apostolic
exhortations on the formation of priests and the church in
America.
Soon after the sainthood cause for Pope John Paul was
launched, Cardinal Wuerl began reworking his articles and
talks about the pope’s writings, with the view of writing a
book that would provide “a systematic presentation of his
teaching.”
In the book, Cardinal Wuerl notes how Pope John Paul, whose
travels took him around the world to address millions of
people, had the special ability to make each man and woman in
the audience feel as if he had spoken directly to them. In a
similar way, the cardinal hopes that the readers of “The Gift
of Blessed John Paul II,” will “find something in the book
that speaks to them.”
Pope John Paul’s 14 encyclicals and his seven apostolic
exhortations that followed Synods of Bishops touched on
“almost every aspect of human experience and the life of the
church,” said Cardinal Wuerl. “Those documents alone earn him
the title ‘Great.’ There is no pontificate in the history of
the church that has produced the corpus of teaching that is
the work of Pope John Paul II.”
“What comes across more than anything else” in the pope’s
writings “is his pastoral heart. … He’s a pastor of souls,”
the cardinal said.
He added that writing his book reminded him of his affection
for Pope John Paul, whose “life, ministry and teaching I was
privileged to witness firsthand as a priest and bishop. In a
way, this book is really a work of love.”
