[Lilllabettt]

No, no, no, no. You'll have to excuse me, because I don't express myself very well. I did not mean obedience unto death, as in, obedience to the Pope. I meant obedience to the Church. The Church is much bigger than one man. The Holy Spirit does not keep Popes from being scumbags. It does keep him from teaching me anything that will prevent me from salvation.

The Pope can be wrong. I disagreed with him about Iraq. In fact, I was annoyed that he was so vocal, because so many do not make the distinction between John Paul the man and John Paul the Pope. He should have made it more clear.

My source is George Weigel, the Popes biographer, and Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He quotes it in his book, Witness To Hope and then cites it as in Walsh, John Paul II pg. 182.

I do happen to like this Pope, but I hardly hold him up as a god. In fact, he makes me nervous. He is too fond of collegiality,and is imprudent where ecumenism is concerned, in my opinion.

[ultima ratio]

"It does keep him from teaching me anything that will prevent me from salvation"

Even this is untrue. He only teaches infallibly when speaking ex cathedra. But he has given many speeches in which he teaches errors. And his actions--praying with animists, kissing the Koran--continue to scandalize millions.

You are right to be nervous about JPII. He goes where no other pontiff has ever dared to go. He acts as if he is a law unto himself and is bound by no predecessor nor by any Church precepts. This is exceedingly dangerous.