The news finally came this Sunday morning, Pope John Paul II has passed away at 9.37pm Saturday night local time at his Vatican apartment. This is indeed a passing of a giant of 1.1 million Catholics.
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Even though I am not a catholic, I still consider Pope John Paul II had lived a life of great significance and that his life had undoubtedly impacted a lot of people. I only discovered in the latest news that he was made a Pope in October 1978, the same month and year I was married some 26 years ago.
CNN captioned him as an Extraordinary Pope. Imagine, he had traveled to 100 over countries throughout his papacy. That is indeed an achievement! He traveled to be with his faithful; to lend support to the poor and downtrodden; to extend his hand of reconciliation; to express regret and to ask for forgiveness for the sins committed by the Catholics forefathers in the past.....
One of the things I found uncomfortable previously was the great number of people he canonized. In fact, it was said that he canonized more people than all the previous popes combined. I used to think, "Is it scriptural for a mortal man to declare another person saint? Isn't that for God to decide?". Today at CNN, it was clarified by someone who knew Pope John Paul II quite well that his purpose of canonizing so many people was to identify models for people to emulate. Men and women who had suffered during trying times would be good examples for people to look up to and emulate.
For that, credit should be given to him. I do agree that there is indeed a great need for people of exemplary characters to be identified in this greatly compromised world. Don't you agree that this kind of people is truly a rare specie nowadays!
2 comments:
I heard the news this morning. Our pastor mentioned his death and said a few words to remember him. Back home later that afternoon, I watched the news update on the Vatican and how Catholics around the world were mourning. It's amazing to see what an impact he has made. Although we protestants may sometimes find it difficult to accept how people can exalt one man almost to the level of worshipping him... we cannot deny how lives have truly been changed by Pope John Paul II. I sent an SMS to one of my colleagues who is a staunch Roman Catholic. The local Catholic community is rallying together in this time. They will hold a special memorial service for him tomorrow at 8.00am.
For how he lived, he was truly an extraordinary man. I think, he did live his life very much in the model of Jesus Christ. I found his special effort to go to Turkey to the jail where the assasin Mehmet was kept to forgive him was truly amasing.
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