“Guess there isn’t just one definition of idolize, huh?”
So you’re saying that Pius V and Pius X and Innocent III and Pope Pius IX - carried in their sedan chairs and with all the pomp and ceremony of the medieval Church (which I have nothing against) - were “admired [less] fanatically” than Pope John Paul II was?
Really?
The vast majority of Catholics in those days never had the opportunity to lay eyes on the Popes let alone be fed sound bites regarding their daily utterances. Contrast that with the cultivation of celebrity status by recent pontiffs in the mass communications era, which has resulted in the inevitable cult of personality surrounding them. The cult of personality blurs the line between traditional Church teachings and the personal opinions and behaviors of Popes (e.g. kissing Koran, beachball on altar, clown nose on Pope).