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This pope favored Saddam over the United States.

Wrong.

He invited Saddam's envoy, Tariq Aziz to the Vatican in a deliberate effort to undermine Bush's diplomacy at the UN.

Bull again. You don't know the Pope's intentions.

By doing so, he gave legitimacy and stature to a tyrant and undermined any effort to get Saddam to step down peacefully.

Wrong yet again. You act as though JPII had Tariq over to play Scrabble and drink beers.

The Pontiff--like other leftists, including Chirac and Shroeder--viewed the United States with more alarm than Saddam's Iraq which had already waged two wars of conquest against neighbor states and had held its own people in horrific bondage for three decades. The pope has reason to feel shame.

Possibly he does. But compare Saddam's brutal regime with our nation that has murdered millions and millions of unborn babies. The U.S. *definitely* has Saddam outscored in the murder category. The Pope may indeed have reason to feel shame, but it's not for anything that you or I are aware of.

I criticize the Pope because he has been harmful as a leader of the Church and has a reputation far in advance of what he deserves, given his lack of accomplishments in ecclesiastical affairs.

It's harmful for him to be a tireless defender of the dignity of human life and the sanctity of the unborn, the elderly, the infirm? Sorry, you're wrong here again. No other contemporary voice has done more to articulate and speak out for those who are unable to speak out on their own behalf. Try reading his book "Crossing the Threshold." See if you still feel the same way. He's a living saint. We're blessed to be Catholics with him as the vicar of Christ.

He has not protected the Deposit of Faith and has allowed belief to dwindle and for this he is answerable.

Wrong. He hasn't allowed it -- he has fought to increase that faith. His words and actions have electrified millions of Catholic youth worldwide. His words have helped bring untold numbers back to the barque of St. Peter - myself and many of my friends included, and from what my friends and family have told me, many of THEIR friends and family too.

You need to read the post on Rome's youth before you go bragging about how much this Pope has done for the young. He is a celebrity to Catholic youth, that's about it. He flatters them with rallies at which he presides like a rock star. But he does not assure that they receive good catechesis. He does not assure that they have good priests who will not corrupt them. He is not providing them with the faith--only with feel-good happenings of no real consequence spiritually.

By the way, I've read "Crossing the Threshold of Hope" and found it full of language that sounds pious and generally uplifting, but having very little in the way of substance.