NEWS: Pope John Paul II Passes Away

CULTURE: Pope John Paul II Passes Away

After a lengthy battle with various maladies, Pope John Paul II, leader of the Catholic Church, has passed away at the age of 84.

Pope John Paul II's 26 years of service was considered "revolutionary conservative", radically reforming the Church's stance on issues such as abortion and homosexuality.

gee what a drama, old man passes away.

i can't wait to see what kind of radical yahoo they replace him with.

oh, and yay.

Ding, dong, the pope is dead...

When I was a junior in high school I got the day of from school because his popemobile route closed the street my school was on.

I'm not catholic, so I don't have any memories or real exposure to him, but I was thankful to have the day off from school. Thanks for that.

I'm not Catholic but I certainly respect those who are and the passing of their religious leader...so I think the comments above are pretty disrespectful. Have a heart.

I used to be a practicing Catholic, I hate religion these days... but I can't say this makes me happy.

*Shrug* Requisat In Pacem.

not everyone's catholic. plus, it was his time. poor guy couldn't even finish his sentences without collapsing. have some compassion and tell me that you didn't want him to keep doing that. what's so bad about wanting a old guy near death to finally pass away peacefully? you can't keep everyone alive.
but then, no matter if he's a relgious leader, i still don't agree with his views, and that "lot of people" haven't been very compassionate to the dead and dying people who his views and teachings spoke against. want some compassion? give some compassion.
i gave up being a catholic years ago, but that doesn't make me a bad person.

[Edited on Apr 02, 2005 2:22PM]

doesnt matter if ure catholic or not but
a great man (or just a man if u want, but still a man) passed away and a little bit of respect wouldnt be bad...
better not saying anything than writing stupid comments...

I'm not Catholic but the Pope was
a voice for the oppressed worldwide
(coming from a captive nation himself).
He also was a campaigner for human
rights and dignity worldwide, and made
the first ever papal apology for the
Catholic Church's mistreatment of
certain peoples.
All in all, not a bad life.

"We will always remember the humble, wise and fearless priest who became one of history's great moral leaders," President Bush said.

hopefully that sullies your day.

i'm sorry, anyone who can't acknowledge the fact that homosexuality is not evil and sin, that a woman's abortion isn't everyone's business, or that morality isn't something that should be shoved in everyone's faces is an ass, no matter their status.

Its about time he passed. Parkinsons is not enjoyable. I wonder how my brother is taking this, he shook hands with him in the mid-eighties once.

Now (maybe) the media circus can move on to other things.

Wow, how totally weak-mided and insecure do you have to be to make fun of a recently deceased person?

see various posts above

I, for one, am pleased by this news only because his illness and suffering has ended. I hope that he reached the spiritual level that he wished to achieve.

well, i am a callous douchebag, no denying that. yeah, i acknowledge that this isn't going down too well with a lot of people. that doesn't immediately mean that i have to kiss the guy's ass. okay, so i feel sorry for all the mourners and the fans, but i didn't like the guy. i'm glad that his suffering was over, i hate to see anyone go through that. it's not like i'm dancing because he's dead or anything.

As much as I dislike organized religion, it's sad to see anyone pass away.

Why am I so "heartless"? I'm not! I do have a heart, and a rather big one at that. Death is sad, but if there's any person's death that has lightness, it's the Pope. Because if he's right, not only is it good for him (he's going to heaven), but he must have been happy to go. If there's a god and his beliefs apply, he's a lucky man. Nobody alive has been as promised a seat in heaven as he is. If his beliefs are correct.

And even if he's wrong, I'm sure he thought he was going to heaven, so he died happy.

Me? I dislike organized religion, perhaps lothe it.. but I have resopect for life, no arguements, since I think that it's all we have. The guy was 84; people die, and that's life. But he died happy, lucky and ready.

So what's the problem?

It's true that the Pope and Catholicism as a whole had/have a long way to go in terms of accepting and loving all peoples. But that is one of the things that is being discussed now before the Cardinals meet to decide the next Pope. Many seem to agree that they need a younger person who will change with the times and be more open to new ideas. The catholic church may be exceedingly slow, but it is not completely closed off to change. It has changed over the thousands of years it has been in existance, be it at a snails pace, but it has changed. There are talks about things such as giving women more power in the church. Hopefully their stance on gays, women and birth-control will catch up a bit with the times.

That said, this Pope was the first to visit a Mosque, the first to pray at the wailing wall in Jerusalem, he opened the doors between religions and tried to teach acceptance and love to people regardless of beliefs. His last years were a very difficult time which saw the Catholic church burried in scandal as he himself no doubt suffered the severe pains of Parkinsons and old age.

I know a lot of you seem to LOVE to tear apart the Catholic church and it's bevy of flaws, but this was a man that stood for love and forgiveness. He suffered greatly in the last few years. Lord knows, I am not in mass every Sunday, but I still have a great deal of respect for this man who dedicated his life to something noble that he believed in so strongly. I'm not standing in judgement of anyone religious beliefs or lack thereof, but I beg you to have a little respect for the dead.

Sorry this was so long winded.

No farther than everyone else on the entire face of the planet, really...

I'm not Catholic, nor religious at all for that matter. And I certainly didn't agree with the Pope on all social issues, but there is no denying his contributions to humanity. He aided the end of communism, reached out to other religions, helped avert a war between Chile and Argentina, was a champion for the poor, spoke out against George's Iraq war, wasn't afraid to admit when the church was wrong, and did countless other things. He deserves to be (and no doubt will be) canonized. He was terribly ill, so this is probably a relief to him. And despite my contrasting opinions with him on religion and many social issues, I still think of him as a wonderful man, and can't help but be saddened by this. God (or the Universe or whatever) bless him.

Canonization has much more esoteric requirements than simply being awesome. You have to have SUPER POWERS OF JESUS, too.

He did help Reagan look like a hero. That's one miracle, only one to go.

Rest in peace, Karol. Some of what you stood for disgusts me, but you were a good man.

While at the same time persecuting homosexuals...

Here's hoping the next pope declassifies the gospel of Christ.

Well.. looks like its old man testicle inspection time again.


Yeah. Its Papal trivia, whaddya want..

Thank you for being long-winded.

Requiam aeternam dona eis, Domine;
Et Lux Perpetua luceat eis.