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April 2, 2005
He's dead, Jim
I'm not even Catholic, but yet I do feel sad at the death of the Pope. The Easter address was particularly tough to watch; an old, dying man trying his best to fulfill his duties, but failing. He was the third Pope in my lifetime, but the only one I actually knew of. Even I, the cynic, will miss him.
Posted by JonasParker at April 2, 2005 4:44 PM
Comments
Well put. I am the epitome of the agnostic, but the man had presence and clearly reached out to a massive amount of people on a human and spiritual level. How can you NOT admire him at that level...
Posted by: Procrasto at April 4, 2005 2:53 PM
I know nothing of the pope - so I don't want to act like an expert. But, I found some letters to the editor of my local paper to be VERY interesting.
[snip]
While praised for his role in "toppling communism," the pope paid only lip service to human rights and scratched at the surface of capitalist excess, while destroying the theology of liberation in Latin America--the means by which the church engaged the structures of exploitation and its attendant powerlessness and poverty.
Karol Wojtyla declared war not only on homosexuality, but in the last years of his rule railed against civil equality for gays in the harshest terms, calling same-sex adoptions violence against children.
Gays, it seems, not predatory priests, are the enemies of children.
[/snip]
Source = http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/chi-0504040014apr04,1,4162126.story?coll=chi-newsopinionvoice-hed
There are others that are critical too. So, it definitely makes you think twice before assuming "ahh, such a great man". He did have an amazing life though. After briefly scanning a timeline of his life, I wondered what would have happened had he chosen to go into theatre rather than theology...
Posted by: V. at April 4, 2005 4:24 PM
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