[livius]

The image of the Holy Father, framed in the window of his appartments, mouth agape and a look of great consternation on his face, will remain with me forever.

Yes, I remember that too. And I remember the comments of many people, even here on FR, who were shocked that he would "let himself be seen" like that. To me, that was truly heroic and I think even non-Christians were touched by it; it was probably one of the reasons that his funeral was virtually overflowing with people from all over the world.

[Tax-chick]

I was reminded of Johnny Cash in his last months: "This is death, folks. I'm not afraid of it; why are you?"

And I agree that the idea that someone who died from complications of old age was a martyr, in the sense generally understood, is quite askew.

[NYer]

it was probably one of the reasons that his funeral was virtually overflowing with people from all over the world.

JPII's funeral is burned into my memory banks ... as is the week that followed with the Novendiale Masses.

Anyone aware of a media source offering full coverage of JPII's funeral on DVD?

[Thorin]

You are absolutely right about the heroic nature of John Paul's death. The way he lived with Parkinson's was also heroic: what a witness in an age when people are being urged to destroy nascent human life to allegedly cure such diseases.