Pope John Paul II

[Eagle]

I'm not catholic, but never the less he was a great man.

[Nin_10_Dough]

I just heard about his passing. Shame he suffered so bad towards the end.

[Remote]

He was a good pope and a good man!

[CKemu]

A great man....we are talking about the same man that said condoms ae un-holy, even with the AIDs crisis in Africa. The man that considers abortion evil. The man that is willing to turn a blind eye to pedophile priests in order to save the face of the church. Sad to see anyone suffer, and I am sure it's a loss to many religious people, but lets not forget a few things

[smcd]

Well said, CKemu!

[Eagle]

A great man....we are talking about the same man that said condoms ae un-holy, even with the AIDs crisis in Africa. The man that considers abortion evil. The man that is willing to turn a blind eye to pedophile priests in order to save the face of the church. Sad to see anyone suffer, and I am sure it's a loss to many religious people, but lets not forget a few things

Nobody's perfect, not even the Pope. But still he did do great things for the world. Compared to his predecessors, who mostly were only concerned with the church, he did a lot to help nations come to peace.

[2fast4u]

he spoke out agaisnt war, imperialism and uncontrolled capitalism but at the same time he still had the same dogmatic stances on birth-control, womens rights and gays that the catholic church has been clinging to for hundreds of years. with that in mind i gotta say my opinion about this pope is not entirely positive or negative. so yeah, with all the praising that is going on, now lets not forget a few things about his work and the reactionary institution he headed.

[Stalkid64]

Glad to see everyone keeping the reality of the Pope's work in such a balanced light here. So much of it was contradictory, but just because someone does a lot of good work doesn't mean the other stuff should be brushed aside. Anti-contraceptive, anti-abortion, anti-gay... not a particularly open-minded or tolerant person all things considered. Perhaps the change will be a positive one.

[Orkin]

Although I disagree with the Catholic church on many points in both belief and practice, it's sad to see him go. He did do many good things.

And I must point out that being anti-abortion and anti-gay aren't reasons to dislike the man. Catholocism is based in Christianity (although in many areas, loosely), do you expect the man to dump all morality for the sake of open-mindedness and tolerance?

There is such a thing as right and wrong, and there are some things that should not be tolerated...

[2fast4u]

you would think he would have been able to open his mind to new ideas instead of sticking to catholicisms reactionary views. more reasons to dislike him btw: he reinstated the good old inquisition, just under a different name and on top of that he also brought back the index of books that are forbidden to read for catholics. even if you have a more conservative stance on morality, i hardly think such repressive actions are supported by anyone.