Pope John Paul II

I guess it really happened- he died about one thirty this afternoon (nine-thirty in Rome). It's so strange- he's the only Pope I've ever known---in fact, they're saying that this is the only Pope that half the world's population has ever known, which really says something. I know that Christ will protect the Church, and let the right person come to power, but it is kind of scary when you think about it. The Catholic Church doesn't have a leader- for the first time in twenty-six years. And we don't know who it will be. It's unsettling somehow.

I was listening to Henry Kissinger on TV earlier today, shortly after the Pope passed away, and he was saying how he thought that when history remembers a single person from the last half of the 20th century, it would be John Paul II. And it really struck me how much more than a religious leader Pope John Paul II really was. Obviously, he's ruled the Church, and brilliantly so, but he did so much more. He was one of the men most responsible for the relatively bloodless end to communism in eastern and central Europe, and particularly the liberation of his homeland, Poland. He was never afraid to go to unfriendly places and propose unpopular ideas (like his 1998 trip to Cuba), or to invite those whom he did not agree with to speak out. He demonstrated that it was possible to live without cultural screens and be truly informed politically and culturally, and still hold your values.

At least as equally important (at least to me, because it's my Church) was the way he governed the Church. A lot of people have whined about how conservative his views were. What I guess they don't realize (or choose not to acknowledge) is that those weren't his views, they were the Roman Catholic Church's. All he was doing was upholding them in a world in which everything else was becoming "morally relative". He was a tireless defender of those who could not defend themselves, from unborn babies to Death Row inmates, to those forced to live behind the Iron Curtain.

And his relationship with young people was incredibly special. As someone in that age group, I know that I felt a special connection to him- even though I never got to see him in person. It's not often that an 84-year-old Pontiff who represents traditional values is embraced by so many young men and women around the world, but it's not hard to see why. First of all, I think he honestly loved children and young people. Look at his face whenever somebody had him hold a baby or hug a little girl- it's so bright and happy. I remember watching him speak at one of those World Youth Day things several years ago (I was quite young, only six or seven, I think) and noticing even then how hopeful he looked when he spoke to the young adults.

Secondly, he was one of the only people who did not even try to talk down to young people. How can we be astonished that teen pregnancy rates are so high when the teaching philosophy is "Well, they're going to go do it anyways, so we might as well accept it and start handing out condoms. Just don't hurt anybody's feelings!"? But the Pope never did that. He never insinuated that teenagers or people in their twenties weren't smart enough to see the consequences of their sins, you always got the feeling that he really believed that every young person, and every adult for that matter, was completely capable of making the "grown-up" decision (certainly as "grown-up" as the decisions that popular culture urges us to make) of following Christ and the Church and choosing not to sin. It was his faith in you that made you want to strive to be a better person- more like him.

He was truly an amazing man. He was orphaned at a young age, lost his brother, studied to be a priest at a time when doing such was a dangerous move, lived under the Nazi occupation of Poland, and under Stalin, was run over by a bus and left for dead, took a bullet in the abdomen, and lived with Parkinsons disease for many years. And in spite of all this, he was still connected at a deep level to his God and His mother, the Blessed Virgin. I don't think it was an accident that he died on the evening of the first Saturday (reserved for praise of Mary) and after the vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday, a celebration which he himself implicated. I was listening to somebody on the radio yesterday, and they were saying how he taught us how to live, and how he had taught us how to die. Serenly, with dignity, and trusting in Christ's Resurrection.

I'm not sad about his death- slighly upset that he's not with us anymore, of course- but happy that he finally is with his beloved Christ and the Blessed Virgin whom he so dearly devoted to, and will receive the reward he earned doing more good than anyone else I can think of (well, maybe Mother Theresea) on this earth.

Whew- long post! And way more deep than I usually get. But I felt like I had to say something- I mean, you can't go right back into flap pictures and Alan jokes after this. Ciao!!!