Things That Need To Be Said

I knew it was going to happen, but for some reason, the reality of the situation just didn't click in my head. I mean, it's not every day that you go to bed hoping for the best, and then wake up to find your Pope is dead.

I'm not sure exactly how I feel about this. I'm sad... but it's more of a kind of regret, I think. There is a definite loss in the world with John Paul II missing from it. JP2 was *MY* Pope. He's the Pope that's been around for my WHOLE life. He's the one that I was raised believing was something like the penultimate in religious devotion -- which, I sorta think he is anyway. I may have fallen out of the faith years ago (I'm more deist than anything else), but I don't think being a lapsed Catholic really effects how I feel. JP2, I believe, was a great man. His firm devotion and faith was at the center of what he was. He's a man who loved something (someone?) intangible except for his own firm beliefs. I disagreed with alot of his policies, but I respect him for who he is (was?).

Now there will be a new Pope. I don't know how I feel about this. It won't be easy to replace a man who basically represented all of Catholicism. Those are some mighty big shoes to fill.

Pope John Paul II, Rest in Peace.