Former British ambassador and lay preacher lays into late Pope John Paul II

A FORMER British ambassador to Ireland has denounced Pope John Paul II as a “dictator” from the pulpit of an Anglican Hampstead church.
Sir Alan Goodison, who was ambassador to Dublin from 1983 to 1986 and also spent time at the British embassy in Rome, made his comments in a sermon at Hampstead Parish Church just a week after billions of Catholics around the world watched Pope John Paul II’s funeral.
In a speech also published on the internet about Church of England splits over homosexuality, he told a congregation: “The church of Rome worldwide is facing similar problems; it will be interesting to see how soon it will split or whether the new Pope can find better answers than the dictatorship asserted by his predecessor.”
Sir Alan, 79, has been a lay preacher at the Church Row church – just yards from his home – for several years and his liberal sermons have attracted controversy in the past.
In 2003, he threatened to quit if the church continued to adopt the hard line stance against gays favoured by the growing Anglican church in Africa.
Reverend Stephen Tucker, also a liberal, was forced to intervene at the time, making what was interpreted as a coded rebuke against Sir Alan’s rhetoric.
But writing in this month’s edition of the church newsletter, after Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s appointment as Pope Benedict XVI was announced, Sir Alan shared his memories of the funerals of Popes Paul VI and John Paul I, which he attended as the deputy ambassador to Italy in 1978, and the decision to make Cardinal Karol Wojtyla Pope John Paul II.
Describing “Roman misogyny”, he wrote: “John Paul II courted the popular enthusiasm for celebrity, much like Princess Diana, not least in death.”
And he added: “The Roman Church has suffered a great deal from scandal and loss of membership in the West under his refusal to acknowledge priestly criminality; he had contributed to much suffering in Africa by his refusal to condone the use of condoms to reduce the spread of Aids.”
Of Pope Benedict XVI, he said: “He will be scrutinised with care, indeed, he begins with a heavy load of mistrust from those, like me, who do not sympathise with his aggressively conservative attitudes. We shall see.
“John Paul II certainly ‘fixed’ the election of his successor.
“Will a 78-year-old Pope have enough time to follow his example?”
Sir Alan also insisted the Church of England would be better off disestablished than guided by conservative “prejudices” over homosexuality.
Revd Tucker declined to comment.
Father Gerard Sheehan, parish priest at the catholic Church of St Thomas More in Maresfield Gardens, Hampstead, said: “I think Sir Alan’s words speak for themselves – he’s made it clear what his position is.
“I’ll leave it to others to come to their own assessment about the last pontiff.
“This has only encouraged me to go and say a little prayer for Sir Alan and anyone who heard this.”