It would have been better to wait a week to post this article.
New Oxford Review's generous permission for republication states, in part, "As for posting material on the Internet, permission is hereby granted only to private individuals to post only one item from each issue, and that posting may occur no earlier than one month after the date of issue." [italics in original]
Since this was from the July/August 2004 issue, it would have been better to wait until August 1 to post.
As well, when posting items from NOR, they have requested that the following be added, "Reprinted with permission from New Oxford Review, 1069 Kains Ave, Berkeley CA 94706, USA."
sitetest
"His Eminence told me the following: "Knowing that his death was close, John XXIII called me and told me: `Silvio, Silvio; my pontificate has been a failure. All the things I wanted to accomplish have not been done; what I did not want to take place is being realized.""
The fact that John XXIII recognized that his pontificate had been a failure didn't prevent the liberals from rushing to have him beatified.
Here are some related articles on this topic:
http://www.traditioninaction.org/HotTopics/a006bIncorruptPopeht.htm
http://www.traditioninaction.org/HotTopics/a006ht.htm
In a similar vein, I doubt Pope John Paul 2's recent questions about the effectiveness of his own pontificate will delay his beatification either.
The holy father's infallibility doesn't extend to his every action as some people seem to believe. Catholics are at liberty to question the prudence of some of his innovations e.g. ecumania, and are not required to indulge in interfaith worship - even if the holy father himself does.
We aren't required to kiss the koran either.
Well, these two sentences wrap it up nicely.
Go get 'em Alice!