Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II passed peacefully today.

Someone had said that a Pope dies just like any other man, but when a Pope dies the world watches. This is particularly true of Pope John Paul II.

The first non-Italian Pope since the 1500's, he reigned for 26 years. Those 26 years have seen profound changes in the world. Pope John Paul II was in the forefront of those changes. Armed only with the moral authority of his position, the deep belief in his religion & the fervent desire to bring peace & freedom to those behind the Iron Curtain, Pope John Paul II helped free millions of oppressed people in the Soviet Union & Eastern Europe. While the struggle toward that freedom progressed, his voice lent hope toward a bright future to those who would have despaired without it.

As the head of the Catholic Church, he was unwavering in the core of his Catholic beliefs. He did not compromise the tenets of the Church at a time when many Catholics were questioning those tenets & questioning the Church's relevance in the modern word of abortions & looser sexual mores. He loudly proclaimed those tenets & reaffirmed them. He acknowledged past wrongs committed by the Church & sought to redress them. Like a good father, Papa John gently admonished those Catholics who were going astray of the Church's beliefs & in doing so caused them to reassess their faith & made them stronger Catholics then they had been. He also reached out to the non-Catholic world, to Jews & Muslims & other religions, seeking reconciliation, mutual respect & understanding. He made it the moral duty of the greater of us to help the lesser, the need to help those in poverty & war-torn areas & those suffering the scourge of AIDS & other diseases.

Above all, Pope John Paul II exuded love & hope to the world & millions responded in kind. His message to the world was not a Catholic message - it was a universal message that people of all faiths understood. His coming into this troubled world, at this time in history & with his voice, when it was so dearly needed, makes one wonder if it was not foreordained.

He is with his God now, leaving behind a world made a little better by him. And really, what greater legacy for him or for any of us then to leave behind a world made a little better?