Long time readers know that I am an atheist but I am not anti-religion. I envy the people who can have faith in a divine being. I also respect most religions even though I may have disagreements with their philosophies. Currently, I don't have much respect for Muslims and their religion, mainly for their intolerance of other religions, how they treat their women and their belief in jihad.
I admired the Pope. I disagreed with him on contraception and celibacy for priests but overall, I think he was a very good Pope. He apologized for many of the excesses of the Catholic Church. Remember the Inquisition? He visited mosques and synagogues. He met with the Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Gorbachev gave him a lot of credit for the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.
This Pope was like a rock star. I was in Washington D.C attending a computer class when the Pope visited. The people lined the streets to wave to him as he went by. I climbed up on a light pole so I could take a picture of him as he passed. This was before the Popemobile. I walked down to the Mall and observed the Mass on the Mall.
My first trip to Rome included a Papal Audience. The Vatican has a huge auditorium where this occurred. The Pope entered from the rear and walked down the center aisle. Every twenty feet or so he would stop and get up on a step stool and bless the people. This counted as blessing religious paraphanalia people might have like crucifixes and rosaries.
When the Pope reached the stage and sat down various priests would rise and list the attendees. A German prist would announce the groups from Germany. The Pope would then address those groups in German. A Spanish priest would announce the groups from Spain and Latin America and the Pope would address them in Spanish. I believe it was a British and not an American priest who introduced us.
I saw the Pope one other time and that was on a Sunday in St. Peter's Square. The Square was packed with people. Of course, someone had a guitar and was playing it while others were singing to the Pope. He eventually appeared at his window and the crowd cheered. They really loved this Pope. He made a speech in Italian and blessed the crowd.
For many people, this is the only Pope they have known. He was the third longest reigning Pope. I was raised Catholic and there have been five Popes in my lifetime: Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, and John Paul II.
There is currently a movement to canonize Pius XII. John Paul II was a better Pope.
RIP Giovanni Paolo II
Posted by denny at April 3, 2005 09:03 PMThanks for this, Denny.
I was hoping you'd weigh-in on the Pope.
As I'm sure many others are going to report, I too saw this Pope eye-to-eye on a physical-level. My experience was 1979 Chicago; I was working for broadcast radio then & I had a UPI sticker on my windshield. I figured out exactly where the PopeMobile was going to have to make a 90-degree turn and stationed myself accordingly.
The Pope was sitting in the back, looking rearward, and the entire convoy came to an almost standstill at the corner I'm talking about. I wasn't more than 5 feet away when he glanced at me (okay, us) and did that 'Bene ...Bene....'-thing and connected with each of us in our small party.
You know how you say 'we got us a troll'? Well, this time, I think we can say 'we had us a Pope!'
Lapsed Catholic that I am, I can easily see that THIS was a Pope for the Ages.
As Marines these days are apt to say, I'm betting that St. Peter swung the gates wide open and greeted PJP2 with a hearty 'Welcome HOME, Brother! Semper Fi in action.
Posted by: Dan S. on April 3, 2005 11:24 PMThank you Denny. I also was hoping you'd weigh in on the Pope. This is the only Pope of my life time, and while I have nothing to compare him to I think he was an amazing man. He stood tall for freedom and was advocate for progessive tradition. He wanted things to change but still stay true to the meaning.
God bless you Denny. :)
Posted by: Alli on April 4, 2005 02:26 AMThis was a very nice post about the Pope by an Iraqi Muslim...
http://messopotamian.blogspot.com/
Cheers, Yarbz
Posted by: Yarbz on April 4, 2005 08:54 AMRandom thoughts:
I spent most of my life as an atheist. Concluded a few years ago that being an atheist also makes one a Darwinian fundamentalist. It just doesn't make any intuitive sense that the incredible diversity and complexity of life is the result of nothing but random mutations selected by the environment for their survival/procreational value. Seems to me that it takes more unquestioning faith to be a Darwinian fundamentalist than to believe that there might be something else.
The Pope. As a politial guy who watches with amazement as the media and cultural elites twist history to their ideological ends, nothing can surprise anymore. Check out Power Line for the NYT article on the Pope's death, where the line "insert statement from Pope supporter" (I'm paraphrasing) appears in an initial write-up from their web page. They couldn't seem to find anyone who liked the Pope, as nothing from a fan of his appreared in the final article.
Pope John Paul II is a historical giant and the MSM will do what it can to diminish his legacy, which includes, along with Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, the defeat of Soviet communism. This is an unpardonable sin at the NYT and its acolytes, so we can look forward to hearing ad nauseum how that wonderful statesman Gorbachev willingly ended the Soviet empire with the Magnificent Three as spectators.
Canonize Pius XII? Isn't he the one who looked the other way while the Germans killed millions of Jews? Didn't John Paul make a public apology for the "oversight" during his papacy? I could be wrong. If so, enlighten me, please.
Posted by: Indigo on April 4, 2005 01:34 PMIndigo - Yes there is a movement to beatify Pius XII. There is an ongoing debate as to whether he looked the other way during the Holocaust or whether he aided the Jews the best he could during WWII. Opinions vary and since I'm no longer a practicing Catholic, I don't have a dog in this hunt. Remember that when one of Stalin's advisrs warned him about conflict with the Roman Catholic Church, Stalin asked, "How many divisions does the Pope have?" Google Pius XII beatification and you will find many websites that adress this topic.
Posted by: denny on April 4, 2005 02:32 PMTY. Will do.
Posted by: Indigo on April 4, 2005 08:04 PMIt's not much in the news since last year,
but I still remember
the Romanist pedophile-priest scandal.
Pope John Paul ignored child molesters
in his priesthood ...until the issue just
wouldn't go away.
Then he made grand pronouncements
against priests having sex with kids.
After which Pope John Paul did everything
he could to continue the status quo where
pedophile priests are tolerated in his church !
He even gave Cardinal Law a job at the
Vatican after that creep got run out of
Boston for sending known child molesters
to new parishes where they could bugger
more kids.
[ It was like saying: 'Protect pedophile priests,
and the Pope will protect you' ! ]
Don't tell me what a 'good man' John
Paul was. The guy was scum.
Edward: take off the blinkers! Then do a little scholarly-digging.
Your comment reminds me that lightning is white except when it's in the sky or is describing a certain bug. It's not all part & parcel the same thing.
You can't support your statement with anything like a *fact*, but are quite willing to tar a good man with the very-same brush that you would accuse on the recently-departed.
A guy is scum because when he is made aware that chalk exists he tries to make cheese from it? What a wonderful nice fellow you must be!
All this Pope did was try to rectify about a thousand years worth of calumny and you dash it all *after the fact* in about 2 minutes worth of innuendo.
You show us/tell us where your accusation has factual merit, ok? You show me where this former Priest, PJPII, did commit acts as you have charged.
*Anyone* trying to do the right thing, the good thing, the thinking, caring, feeling justice thing these days has my support & backing; hurling bags of innuendo is not that thing.
What did Lennon say ......... "don't you know that it's a fool who makes his world a little colder."
Posted by: Dan S. on April 5, 2005 12:27 AM