[FITZ]

I think this is a good example of why our American founders set up a presidency that limited how long someone could be in power. John Paul II was good in his day --- but he hasn't ever been the same since the assassination attempt on him --- they didn't kill him --- but they did make him sick and weak. I imagine the pain medications he's needed do affect his thinking.

[Judith Anne]

Parkinson's Disease, and the medications used to treat the condition, can also interfere with thinking.

That said, I really appreciate BlackElk's comments.

[BlackElk]

The term limitation amendment was proposed by the Republican post-World War II Congress, still reeling in reasonable shock over FDR being elected four times, but the point is well-taken. As a Catholic, I do believe that JP II might justifiably retire and make way for a much younger pope, vigorously and militantly orthodox and committed to purging ruthlessly what must be purged within the Church and then to wage war against the world's evils. JP II has accomplished what he could accomplish and that was much.

Francis Fukuyama notwithstanding, we have not reached the end of history.

JP II was certainly badly damaged physically by the assassination attempt but his greatest successes were later including the fall of the Iron Curtain. He declined thereafter but still contributed major doctrinal encyclicals and held the line against all comers on doctrine. In the last analysis, he is a human being subject to the frailties of age. He will be known as John Paul the Great, joining Leo the Great and Gregory the Great. We will recognize that greatness more and more after he has gone.

More to be feared than anything else is a prolonged period of coma or complete disability, essentially an interregnum, which would allow Modernist termites room to manipulate in his name.

Finally, JP II may be motivated by an apparently unwarranted optimism that the UN or some successor organization might someday become a vehicle for the restoration of Christendom. Short of direct, divine intervention, that seems quite unlikely, now or ever. Prudence dictates that we remain American nationalists and interventionists (as necessary) and keep our sovereignty strong and our powder dry.

[Tao Yin]

I think this is a good example of why our American founders set up a presidency that limited how long someone could be in power.

You make a good point. So the American founders set up a better system than the Catholic founders. Hmmm...