Showman, Poet, Mystic, Philosopher

Of all the obituaries of the Pope, this from Toronto's Globe and Mail seems to capture the man best. David Remnick puts the politics of the Pope in good perspective in this week's New Yorker. The Globe and Mail: Showman, mystic, philosopher

on the other hand...........this view from the New York Times op-ed page takes a different tack:


John Paul II's most lasting legacy to Catholicism will come from the episcopal appointments he made. In order to have been named a bishop, a priest must have been seen to be absolutely opposed to masturbation, premarital sex, birth control (including condoms used to prevent the spread of AIDS), abortion, divorce, homosexual relations, married priests, female priests and any hint of Marxism. It is nearly impossible to find men who subscribe wholeheartedly to this entire catalogue of certitudes; as a result the ranks of the episcopate are filled with mindless sycophants and intellectual incompetents.
He will surely be remembered as one of the few great political figures of our age, a man of physical and moral courage more responsible than any other for bringing down the oppressive, antihuman Communism of Eastern Europe. But he was not a great religious figure. How could he be? He may, in time to come, be credited with destroying his church.

so there take your pick