http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4923631,00.html
Bush Calls Pope's Legacy Clear, Strong
Friday April 8, 2005 10:16 PM
AP Photo AXLP113
By TOM RAUM
Associated Press Writer
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) - President Bush said Friday
that Pope John Paul II's legacy is clear and strong,
despite mixed feelings about the pope's leadership of
the Roman Catholic church that some - including former
President Clinton - have discussed since his death.
Talking just hours after attending the pope's funeral
Mass, Bush said he was more personally affected by the
service than he had expected.
Recalling beautiful music, a homily that drew an
enthusiastic response from young people and,
particularly, the moment when the pope's plain cypress
casket was carried past mourners with the sun shining
down on it, Bush said his own faith had been
strengthened by being in St. Peter's Square with the
throng of world leaders and Catholic faithful.
``I happen to feel it was a special moment that was
part of a special ceremony for a special person,''
Bush told reporters traveling with him on Air Force
One as he flew from Rome to his Texas ranch. ``Today's
ceremony, I bet you, for millions of people was a
reaffirmation for many and a way to make sure doubts
don't seep into your soul.''
He added, ``This will be one the highlights of my
presidency.''
Bush, the first U.S. president to attend a papal
funeral, led a five-member American delegation to
Vatican City that included two former presidents - his
father, George H.W. Bush, and his predecessor, Bill
Clinton.
Despite the bonhomie displayed by the bipartisan
presidential trio, a disagreement over the pope
himself emerged.
Aboard Air Force One on the way to Italy earlier this
week, Clinton said John Paul was ``like all of us - he
may have a mixed legacy,'' pointing to controversy
over the pope's efforts to centralize church authority
in the Vatican, to tamp down ``liberation theology''
movements, to promote conservative doctrine and to
oppose discussion of female or married priests. Still,
Clinton heralded the pope as ``a figure of historic
importance'' who hastened the end of Communism in
central Europe, saw the number of Catholics increase
dramatically on his watch and was, above all, ``a
consistent voice for human dignity in the face of
political oppression and modern materialism.''
``On balance, I think he was a man of God, he was a
consistent person, he did what he thought was right
and that's about all you can ask from anybody,''
Clinton said.
On the way home, Bush was asked to respond to the
``mixed legacy'' comment. He hastened to disagree with
it.
``Pope John Paul II will have a clear legacy of peace,
compassion and strong legacy of setting a clear moral
tone,'' Bush said.
To underscore his meaning, he then amended himself.
``A clear and excellent legacy, if you don't mind
adding the word excellent,'' he said, talking at
length in the conference room on his plane. ``I wanted
to make sure there was a proper adjective to the
legacy I thought he left behind. It was more than just
clear.''
``I would define Pope John Paul II as a clear thinker
who was like a rock. Tides of moral relativism kind of
washed around him, but he stood strong as a rock,''
Bush said. ``There's a reason why the largest crowd
ever to come and pay homage to a human happened, and
it's because of the man's character, his views, his
positions, his leadership capacity, his ability to
relate to all people, his deep compassion, his love of
peace.''
The president said the pope - ``a truly great man who
is and will always be a great historical figure'' -
always had a sparkle about him that helped him
communicate even after his body began to fail him.
Bush talks often about the power of faith in his own
life. But as he reflected on the pope and the ceremony
that laid him to rest, he did so in unusually personal
terms, saying his relationship with John Paul and his
presence at St. Peter's on Friday strengthened his own
beliefs.
He talked of feeling the presence of ``a spirit that
was an integral part of the ceremony.'' Using a
description of Christian life common to evangelicals,
he said the Mass had reminded him that faith is a
long-term endeavor: ``It's called a `walk,' it's not
called a `moment' or a `respite.'''
He also admitted struggling with doubts. ``I think a
walk in faith constantly confronts doubt, as faith
becomes more mature,'' the president said.
Bush later returned to that topic to insist that those
questions do not reach to the fundamental tenets of
Christianity.
``There is no doubt in my mind there is a living God.
And no doubt in my mind that the Lord Christ was sent
by the Almighty. No doubt in my mind about that,'' he
said. ``When I'm talking about doubts, I'm talking
about the doubts that an individual struggles with in
his or her life.''
Bush was spending the weekend at his Crawford, Texas,
ranch ahead of Monday meetings there with Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Over the next couple of days, Bush plans some mountain
biking with Mark McKinnon, the top adman from his
re-election campaign, sprinkled in with a little
fishing, brush-clearing, bluebonnet appreciation and
reading Robert K. Massie's 1980 biography ``Peter the Great.''
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"[M]y ministry is that of servus servorum Dei."
--Pope John Paul II (Ut Unum Sint, no. 88)
"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock
I will build my church, and the powers of death
shall not prevail against it."
--Matthew 16:18
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