THE WRITERS POST (ISSN: 1527-5467) the magazine of Literature & Literature-in-translation. VOLUME 6 NUMBER 2 JUL 2004

THANH THANH _______________________________ LAUD TO POPE JOHN PAUL II On 03-12-2000 Pope John Paul II apologized for all the Vatican's mistakes in the past I laud you for most of the other moral systems detecting And for anything true and holy in them not rejecting - Those Asian Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist religions, And Australian hundreds-of-centuries-old native traditions. I commend you on admitting your predecessors misapprehended The earth's form and position for which Galileo contended. To deny the roundness and movement of the globe, in error The Inquisition persecuted the physicist, inflicted terror! I praise you for acknowledging that, without lenience, In order to liberate Jerusalem from Islamic obedience, They fostered crusades in the European Catholics' name; But they had recourse to violence - unworthy of fame! I respect you for apologizing, to many a Latin nation, For Spanish past roles in South-America Evangelization. Delegated by the Church, Spain took advantage of the situation To practice cruelly massacre, tyranny, and exploitation! I admire you for testifying your anterior ones' lack of sanity While love of one another is the Bible's thesis of humanity. They considered black-skinned race as of lowest grade; And they tolerated, and even encouraged, slave trade! I sympathize with your feeling about World War II a sharp pain: The Vatican's cooperation with the Nazis - a dark stain! I acclaim your recognition of the processes of Evolution: Such reasoning beyond Creation is quite a revolution! I extol you rectifying the doctrine of the Virgin Mary: Whether body and soul into heavenly glory it does vary. To inherit sin - before that conception - she was bound; To exclude her from natural death, there is no ground. I comprehend your part in seeking Poland's regime to replace: Because you put the Poles first and above any other race. I agree with you that though you tell people not to fear, You still must use bulletproof protection in public to appear. I love your getting prepared for the century twenty-first: All predictions of the near end only mean a frenzy burst! I'm sorry for you yielding to the Vietnamese protestation Of their own country's prelacy against your ordination! I thank you for teaching Christians to repent of their sin Committed in the past by certain Pontiffs and their kin. Such lucidity, justice, and courage, of a man capable, Lets me believe that you, the Pope, is not mistakable! THANH-THANH · THE WRITERS POST (ISSN: 1527-5467), the magazine of Literature & Literature-in-translation. VOLUME 6 ISSUE 2 JULY 2004 Editorial note: All works published in this issue are simultaneously published in the printed Wordbridge magazine double issue 3 &4 Winter 2003 & Spring 2004. (ISSN: 1540-1723). Copyright © Thanh Thanh 1999-2004. Nothing in this issue may be downloaded, distributed, or reproduced without the permission of the author/ translator/ artist/ The Writers Post/ and Wordbridge magazine. Creating links to place The Writers Post or any of its pages within other framesets or in other documents is copyright violation, and is not permitted. Return to Contents HOME