I was in Bowling Green, KY when I found out that the Pope had died. I was without Internet access and had very limited time or opportunity to catch any of the news on television.
But I didn’t want the passing of Karol Wojtyla, Pope John Paul II, to go without mention on my blog.
A lot of my sentiment echoes that of Michael John at Cold Fury:
I am not a Christian, and disagreed with many of his policies, but there is no question of the integrity of the man, and of the priest. Most particularly, he accepted a position that carried with it duties, and, as he grew older and sicker, refused to take any opportunity to shirk those duties; not because he believed that no one else could perform them, but because he had accepted them.
My wife and I are not Christians either, but my respect and admiration for John Paul II was significant. I will always remember him most for the courage of his convictions.
Unlike John, I didn’t disagree with many of the Pope’s policies…because they weren’t that important to me as a non-Catholic (priest being allowed to marry, women priests, etc.). I didn’t disagree with his policies because I understood from where they came, and to whom they were meant.
Pope John Paul II was a good man. He was extraordinarily courageous. He lived proudly and steadfastly by his convictions. He was respected and loved by people of all faiths as well as by those of none.
I’m not so much saddened by the passing of the Pope, as I am grateful to have lived nearly my entire life under his watch.
Dear UG,
Welcome back. Thanks for the post on the Pope. Let me build on it a bit….
Pope John Paul II should earn all of our enduring gratitude for being one of the main Cold War bulwarks against Communism. Along with Reagan, Thatcher, and Solzenytsen (sp?), the Pope’s moral clarity and steadfast support for the God-given rights of man helped deal a death blow to the hideous apparatus of the Soviet communist state and it’s satellites. Without his unyielding, anti-Communist stance the West might also have the Soviets to worry about, in addition to Islamofascists.
The Pope had also done much to combat the worldview underlying the “right to die” movement (or, what I call the “will to kill” movement). It’s the same athiestic materialism underlying Communism: that humankind is the sole arbiter of what is right and wrong, that life is ultimately meaningless, and that there is not Higher Authority to which we all answer. Some people call this worldview “Secular Humanism”, though I think it’s more accurate to call it “anti-humanism”. In this sense, Pope John Paul’s repudiation of this worldview makes him one of the greatest humanists ever!
Thanks for your post…
Travis
Left by Texas Tommy on April 5th, 2005 at 12:30 pm