Here is the crux of the matter. One item here or there wouldn't make the pope a heretic. It's not a question of searching for typos or supposed mis-translations. (BTW, he really did say "hell is a state rather than a place." That's the meaning of the phrase he used. "More than" would be an overly-literal translation.) But what is the legacy of this pope, on balance?
Here is where we see writers like this author demonstrating an incredible amount of the bias of which they accuse others. Any objective analysis is going to compare the Church of 1978 to the Church of today, rather than focus on JPII's rock-star persona which is irrelevant at best, and a scandal at worst.
Objectively looking at the situation today, we see that JPII inherited a Church in crisis -- one that was doing badly and getting worse. Since that time he has 100% stayed the course and refused to make any significant changes in the Vatican II program. All of the vaunted talk of renewal has been just that, talk. There is no reality to it.
Those who think that he is somehow more conservative than his predecessor must have never lived during the pontificate of Paul VI. Paul VI was supposedly Mr. Arch-Conservative during the time that he was alive. It is only in retrospect that he's considered a liberal. For decades he was called the conservative alter-ego to John XXIII's liberal. But now in the hindsight of history, John XXIII may have been more conservative than either Paul VI or JPII.
So on balance we have seen 25 years in which the growing crisis in the Church has deteriorated steadily and there has been no leadership from the Vatican to correct the problems.
A point to remember (and which so-called traditionalists often ignore) is that John Paul may be right and his Predecessors wrong on a particular issue of this kind.
I'm sorry but this is not the way the Church works. I cannot recall a single incident prior to Vatican II in which a pope came out and said, "I'm right and my predecessors were wrong." This is nothing but a prescription for anarchy. Once you admit this principle, then there is no longer any established doctrine in the Church. Each pope would be free to create his own religion.
On April 3, 2000 the Holy See released an annual statistical summary of the world's Catholic population. It shows an increase in the number of Catholics globally, with a slightly higher growth rate than in the overall world population.
There were 17.4 baptized Catholics for every 100 people in the world by the end of 1998. (About 1.04 billion Catholics).
World Catholics by Location:
Nearly 1/2 of the world's Catholics live in the Western Hemisphere
30 % in Latin America
15 % in North America
30 % in Europe
12 % in Africa
Asia, the most populous continent, boasts only 12 % with most of those Catholics in Southeast Asia.
1 % Oceania
Since 1978, Europe has fewer Catholics, Africa and Asia more.
# of Catholic Bishops:
Large Increase 4,439 up from 3,714 in 1978. Greatest increases in Africa.
# of Priests Worldwide:
Declined from 420,971 in 1978 to 404,626 today, especially high in Europe and North America.
# of Religious Order Priests:
Declined from 158,486 in 1978 to 140,424 today
# of Diocesan Priests:
Increased slightly 264,202 from 262,485 in 1978, with lively growth in vocations in Africa.
The decline in the number of priests may soon reverse because more are studying for the priesthood.
# of Seminarians:
Increased to 109,171 from 62,670 in 1978. Again, the growth is most visible in Africa, with Latin America not too far behind.
Thank You Lord, for our Priests and Seminarians who have answered Your call.