Il Papa
I'm watching the most incredible sight. The funeral of a great man, the Pope, is having his funeral, and I, like a billion others around this planet, can watch it live, and see the million people that are standing there in the Eternal City, watching John Paul the Great be buried. I am not catholic, and i greatly dislike all forms of religion, but right now, there is a situation where we have an ancient institution, whoes head has great, great oppertunities for promoting peace, and understanding between all peoples.
I think that was reflected in the fact that there was Eastern Patriarchs singing their songs to his coffin, and almost every world leader under the sun was present at the Funeral. For all Bushes faults, i was pleased that he was the first president to attend the funeral of a Pope.
Pope John Paul the Great was the most influencial person in ridding the world of communism, and we saw the fruits of that with Poland, a nation in mourning for their father, who ridded them of Communism, and gave them freedom. along with Victor Yuschenko, Hamid Karzai, and im pretty sure i saw the Ayatollah.
It just shows us though, how great a man he was. Visiting every corner of this earth. My Dad, and his side of the family, who are Catholics, fondly reminice about the time he visited Bellohouston Park in Glasgow in 1982. And i was humbled greatly earlier on in the week, when His Holiness was lying gravley ill, That my Aunt Theresse, who lives in Italy, and is in a Catholic singing group that goes around the world. she has met the Pope on mnay occaisons, and often goes to Rome. And i was humbled when my dad told me that they had seen one of her songs, that she had written, being sung in Polish, to pray for the Pope, i was overwhelmed.
He really was the peoples Pope, a great man, who deserves the title of Great, as well as the Title of Saint, and i hope and wish those cardinals can find one in their number who is just as great, as His Late Holiness, Pope John Paul II, the Great
posted by Nick @ 4:13 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Since you say you're only 16, maybe there's a point to me pedantically observing here that people are complicated and that none of us is perfect. Regarding JP2, you can read here a reasonable criticism of him as an administrator if not as a person. You must have heard that all sorts of revered folks of noble accomplishment and truly great qualities nevertheless owned slaves, beat their wives and neglected their children. I'm not saying that this particular Pope had flaws of such magnitude, but being human he surely had some, at least according to a common school of thought. As the leader of a very popular religion, JP2 was in a position to influence world politics--what he said people and politicians paid attention to--and in noteworthy ways (e.g. liberalization of Europe) he seems to have influenced them in a very positive way. To my mind, that's cause for celebrating the man, but by itself doesn't make a case for supernatural talents or virtues (as I get the feeling you think when you call him a "saint"). I'm sure it took extraordinary talent, discipline, personability and humanity for JP2 to ascend to the position of Pope, but I also think as for anybody a lot of the credit for his accomplishments have to go to the time and place into which he was born...not to mention to the people who chose to listen to him. Not that you asked.
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