Official Seal of Pope John Paul II
- Papabile: Dedicated to the discussion of the possible successors of our Holy Father, John Paul II. Papabile: (pay-pah-bee-lay), n., one who is considered a possible candidate to be Pope.
- Special Edition of Al's Morning Meeting (Poynter.org): Pope Resources: Online Pope prayers... Catholic glossary... Last Rites... Who's running Church... Successor rules.
- The Vatican in the new millennium (ReligionLink): News links and resources for reporters.
- Zenit.org: "The World Seen From Rome" (English Edition). This is a Vatican-related newswire that has some interesting and useful background info for journalists.
3 comments:
Guess what? The pope is STILL dead. I just don't get it. Supposedly, Christians feel that their reward will come to them *after* they depart this earthly plane. Shouldn't there be mass celebrations happening, instead of mass mourning? And why has the media devoted SO much attention on this (and just recently, the death of Terry Schiavo) when every day there are more deaths in Iraq, Afghanistan and here in our very own country (think "gun violence")?? Now THAT is immorality in action!!
Sure, he's still dead. But they have yet to catapult him across Rome. That's the big finale, right?
But anyway ...
I personally find the life of JPII somewhat fascinating and inspiring. No, I'm not going to put him on a pedestal (nor did I feel the need to visit his shellacked body lying in state). He certainly was not the best of men and I feel there is much he left undone or ignored. And I feel there is much more he could have or should have attempted, but it's hard to pull a large institution out of a very deep rut. I think JPII did try to stick to what he felt was the right course for him and his charges and I can respect him for that. I may not agree with much of it, but I'm not in charge of the universe this week.
I do enjoy catching some of the coverage ("Hey, how come every channel is showing PopeTV?"). But ... I guess that's because I am a student of world religions, and I find the RC stuff curious ... kind of like watching a National Geographic special about life on another planet.
The interesting thing about all the media attention is that it is probably the complete antithesis of what he would have wanted (and it is also completely different from the apathy that followed the death of the nameless pope in Dan Brown's Angels & Demons).
Oh, and didn't our Dear Leader look completely out of place trying to honor a man that constantly rebuked him for his "little" war?
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