You bet. Here are the pics that GRRRRR posted on the other thread.
To: bd476Il Papa lies in state...
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Posted on 04/03/2005 4:43:53 AM PDT by bd476
Pope John Paul II, a man of faith, peace
OUR OPINION: HE OPENED THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TO THE WORLD
There was so much to the man. Vigilant shepherd, profound theologian, tireless evangelist, astute strategist, master politician. Pope John Paul II was all of this and more, a man so full of energy and passion to spread the word of Christ the Redeemer that in 26 years as leader of the Roman Catholic Church he became one of the most influential religious figures of modern times.
He was a man of paradoxes: poet and sportsman; introspective and gregarious; inflexible and forgiving. When he died yesterday at 84, he left behind a church deeply rooted in tradition and dedicated to doctrine he did much to define. But it also is a church firmly and irrevocably engaged in the affairs of the world.
Perhaps this was because John Paul II, despite his deep religiosity, was so much of this world. A man of prodigious energy and intensity, he exercised extraordinary influence on both the church and world events.
Long before he was pope, Karol Wojtyla was a brilliant student, a man of the theater, an expert skier and a laborer in a limestone quarry. He suffered through the Nazi occupation and, later, communist oppression in postwar Poland. He survived an assassination attempt in St. Peter's Square. And, as pope, he might even have worked with the Reagan administration to bolster the Solidarity union and sweep the communists out of his Polish homeland.
To his church, grappling as it was in 1978 with the exhilarating, disorienting revolution born of the Second Vatican Council, he brought a firm hand and directed a return to orthodoxy that led many to label him a ''restorationist.'' He denied women's ordination, disciplined ''liberation theologists'' and insisted on the traditional restrictions of priestly life.
Yet he was, in many ways, the most modern of popes. His admission of gross historical errors on the part of the church and his belief in the ecumenical movement helped bring the church into the modern era. Similarly, his preaching on behalf of human rights and the rights of the individual -- an idea some of his predecessors would have scorned -- is a testament to his progressive thinking on many issues.
Perhaps his greatest role was that of teacher. In an astonishing outpouring of ecclesiastical thought -- 14 encyclicals, 41 apostolic letters -- he set a new standard for magisterial teaching. The Catholic Church -- indeed, all of Christianity -- will be feeding off this for decades to come. No human being in history has been seen in person by so many people -- 17.6 million pilgrims in the General Audiences held on Wednesdays, plus the millions of faithful who saw him during his 104 trips outside Italy and 145 trips in Italy outside Rome and Castel Gandolfo.
Leading in prayer
To Catholics and non-Catholics the world over, John Paul reached out with unprecedented openness and humility. He took the church to the streets, leading the masses in prayer, calling, always, for peace and reconciliation.
In Senegal he asked for forgiveness for the complicity of Christians in the ''horrible aberration'' of slavery. From Rome, he urged Catholics to atone for the church's ''acquiescence'' in human-rights abuses under totalitarian regimes of the 20th century. And in Miami, in 1987, he had this to say about oppression to an audience filled with political refugees:
''We must act to alleviate it,'' he told them, ``but we must also pray, not only for those who suffer, but also for those who inflict suffering.''
He gave hope
A difficult undertaking, that, but it lay at the very heart of his teaching. John Paul II believed in redemption, and to those who were open to his message, he gave hope. His own suffering, which he bore with dignity and courage for years, became part of his ministry. It gave hope to the afflicted and underlined the special character of the man.
No few words can sum up such a life, but two quotations from the Bible from his two pontifical namesakes, John and Paul, seem pertinent. In the ecumenical spirit he cherished, the quotes are from the King James version:
Paul's second letter to Timothy 4:7: I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.
The first letter of John 2:17: And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
FOX News Channel is showing the Pope's body on display at the Vatican.At the Apostolic Palace, I believe they said.
He looks so very peaceful.
Thanks Meek.
You bet. Here are the pics that GRRRRR posted on the other thread.
To: bd476Il Papa lies in state...
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I was up so late last night.
Waited for the first viewing.
My heart is heavy.
It's going to be a long very sad day.
Kate
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