“THE ANGELS WELCOME YOU”
The Pope is dead.
John Paul II died at 9:27 pm Rome time, succumbing at last to inevitable. “Remember thou art but mortal,” they tell him immediately after his election.
Used to be that Popes held political power greater than any king or potentate. They could command Princes to give them armies to punish or conquer. They planned. The plotted. A single word from a pope could cause a recalcitrant prince to be excommunicated; a fate worse than death for someone who lived in the middle ages.
But with the rise of the nation-state, the popes influence waned. Eventually, all they had left was their moral authority over the more than a billion Catholics all over the world.
We’ll hear much about this pope’s long pontificate. We’ll hear how stubborn he was, how anti-women he was, how resistant to modernity he was. But we won’t hear a word spoken against the man. A true mystic, he believed in the miracles and wonders of life. In a way, he was a throwback, a relic from a time when people obeyed what the pope had to say because they believed him to be infallible.
John Paul II may not have been infallible. But when he spoke, people listened. And even in this day and age, a word from him made princes tremble. So much so, that the Soviet Union tried to murder him, so much a threat to their control they believed him to be.
President Bush called him a “hero for the ages.” Well put. We’ll be living in his gigantic shadow for the rest of my years and probably longer.
may he be long remembered and rest in peace . John Paul your home now and in the hands of the Almighty
Comment by Walter — 4/2/2005 @ 7:22 pm
A man who truly deserves our respects. I’ve even posted off subject on my blog to pay my respects. May he rest in the peace of his mansion in our Father’s house!
Comment by Jay — 4/2/2005 @ 10:24 pm
I do not thing the poor should cry when someone of privilege dies.
Comment by Art Gillies — 4/2/2005 @ 11:04 pm
Hola faretaste
mekodinosad
Comment by AnferTuto — 7/26/2007 @ 5:30 pm
Interesting article!
Where can I find more on this theme?
Comment by MalkEvange — 8/6/2007 @ 2:38 pm