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mlbn SSffhem (Got Diocese of Savannah Contents Headune Hopscotch 3 News 3 Commentary 4-5 Hispanic Ministry 6-7 Faith Alive! 8-9 Notices 10-11 Last But Not Least 12 Vol. 80, No. 3 $.50 PER ISSUE Thursday, January 20, 2000 Vatican official downplays idea of pope declaring King a martyr A Catholic school girl holds up an image of Martin Luther King, Jr., during a program honoring the slain civil rights leader in Newark, N.J. By John Thavis Vatican City (CNS) Vatican official downplayed spec ulation that Pope John Paul II would declare the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., a Christian “martyr” during the jubilee year, saying that current plans call for a no-names prayer ser vice honoring all Christians who died for the faith in the 20th century. U.S. media reported in mid-January that King, a Baptist who led the U.S. civil rights movement until his assas sination in 1968, would be declared a martyr by the Catholic Church, one of a long list of martyrs expected to be unveiled by Pope John Paul II at an ecumenical service at Rome’s ancient Colosseum May 7. But Jesuit Father Jozef Maj told Catholic News Service January 14 that no specific recognition of martyr dom for King was planned for the May 7 service. The ceremony “will not involve any canonical process of recognition of the martyrdom of individuals, in the sense that they would be presented to the faithful for veneration,” said Father Maj, a member of the commis sion planning the event and an offi cial of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Father Maj said the Vatican has opted to avoid promulgating or publi cizing the thousands of individual martyrs whose names have been sent in from around the world, because it could give rise to misunderstanding or even division. “The collecting of names was a purely internal matter, in order to take a better look at the situation. The names will not be presented at this ceremony, which is a general thanks giving for those who witnessed [to] the faith (in the 20th century), even to the point of giving their blood,” he said. He said the Vatican was still study ing the possibility of making public a few of the names, who could symbol ize groups of martyr-witnesses. But he indicated that any such names would be persons who suffered directly because of their profession of faith in Christ, leaving aside “politi cal or other factors.” While Martin Luther King Jr. was an admirable figure and was certainly motivated in part by his faith, he is known more for his political and social activism, Father Maj said. He said one reason the Vatican had decided for now not to emphasize names of individuals was because some are closely tied to the causes of specific communities, but would not necessarily be equally appreciated by all Christians. Last fall, the Vatican’s New Martyrs Commission said it had com- (Continued on page 11) German bishop says he thinks pope would resign if too ill Cologne, Germany (CNS) leading German bishop said he thought Pope John Paul II would resign if ill health made it impossible for him to fulfill the responsibilities of the papacy. Bishop Karl Lehmann, president of the German bishops’ conference, made the remarks in an inter view with German Radio broadcast January 9. He expanded on them in another radio interview the same day. On January 10, after Italian media reported his comments as a call for the pope’s resignation, Bishop Lehmann said he was not at all questioning the pope’s present capacities but discussing a hypo thetical situation in the future. The 79-year-old pontiff has appeared frail and unsteady in recent weeks as he opened jubilee year activities. He is believed to suffer from Parkinson’s disease, a debilitating nervous system disorder. But the pope’s top aides say his mental faculties are undiminished and that his work schedule has remained virtually unchanged. Bishop Lehmann said that he, too, had recently witnessed the pope’s “extraordinary intellectual presence” at last fall’s European bishops’ synod and on other occasions. But if the pope’s condition worsens in the future, he said he thought the pope would resign if he decided he could no longer lead the church. “I personally believe the pope has the capacity, that if he were to feel that he simply is no longer sufficient in his role—to lead the church in a responsible way—then I believe he would have the strength and the courage to say, ‘I can no longer fill this office in the way that is needed’,” Bishop Lehmann said. The bishop said he was not certain that those around the pope “and all the others who give advice” would agree with a resignation. He said it was “not easy to think about this. No one is accus tomed to something like that happening, like a pope resigning.” But he cited one precedent, Saint Celestine V, who resigned from the papacy in the 13 th century. Bishop Lehmann said he was not sure whether the pope’s present illness was having an influence on the leadership of the church and on decisions reached in the Vatican. He said he had the impression that the pope has gathered all of his strength for Holy Year 2000, and that the highlight of the jubilee year would be his visit to the Holy Land in March. He said that in effect the pope was enjoying the “decisive high point” of his pontificate. In the later interview with South-West German Radio, Bishop Lehmann said the church needed as pope a “strong man who could lead,” because oth erwise he “could not hold together a world church of a billion people with so many differences.” But he said the church also needed strong local churches which should have the courage to bring their concerns to Rome. He said that if the pope should one day resign, he thought it would be wise to call a third Vatican council to deal with several important pastoral issues. “That would be a possibility to overcome block ages which are simply there,” he said. Bishop Lehmann said that, although he did not want to discuss the issue of an eventual successor to the pope, he thought the church would look to Latin America to find one. He added, however, that “one has learned once more to value what the church in Italy means for the world church.” (Continuedon page 3)