Rest in Peace

Pope John Paul II has died. I find that his passing is moving me more than I expected. I grew up Catholic, and have since given up all tenets of the faith, but that doesn't diminish the stature of the man. Don't get me wrong, I disagree with much of the Pope's teachings - birth control, abortion, he was a little too quiet on the child abuse scandal. But I think the actual specifics of his beliefs are a little beside the point. No one can deny that compared to most public figures, he was always consistent, with complete lack of hypocrisy. I may not agree with what he had to say, but I respect him for saying it.

Furthermore, his legacy is something to be revered. He apologized to the Jews for the Catholic Church's inaction during the Holocaust. He apologized to the Muslims for the Crusades. He absolved Galileo. He was greatly influential in the collapse of the Soviet Union. He didn't take the Catholic Church all the way to the 21st century, but he brought it much closer to the present than anyone before him. He truly was a great man.

The Catholic Church is an extremely old-fashioned institution. In most cases, that keeps it out of touch with the realities of life in today's world. But watching the ceremonies in Rome today, I feel a strong connection to history. One can imagine that everything they're going to do over the next week or so is identical to what they might have done 1000 years ago. With all the technology and modernism in contemporary society, it's a powerful feeling to reflect on the past and realize that they were the same as we are today, minus the cellphones and Starbucks.

Your Holiness, my prayers would probably do you a disservice in the eyes of God, but I wish you well in the afterlife. I honestly hope that you're right, I'm wrong, and you have found your paradise in the Kingdom of Heaven.