[R.I.P.] The Pope is dead...long live the Pope!

I heard sad, but not unexpected news today as to the death of Pope John Paul II.

I was raised Catholic (baptism, first communion, etc.) but I abandoned the Church when I was 11. I didn't (and still don't) like the dogma of organized religion. My spirituality is my own, personal to me and no one else. My issues with g(G)od are between me and g(G)od.

Eventhough I am no longer Catholic (a friend once said 'you are never ex-Catholic, merely a recovering Catholic'), the trappings of ritual of the Church are still with me, in the back of my mind in the sub-conscious. I can't get rid of them, they are a part of me. The Catholic Church is a monolithic religion spanning the globe. The Pope wields immense power and influence. While I do not agree most of the initiatives that John Paul II mandated as Pope (such as the strict adherence to rules against artificial birth control which is a danger in the day and age of AIDS. There is also the 'Culture of Life' thing as well.), he did use some of his papal powers for good. Examples that stand out for me are:

1. The rennouncement of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. I agree with the Holy Father on this one. It was a mistake for us to invade. It has done nothing to make our country more secure, and probably made the world a more dangerous place for us. What happened to bin Laden and that group called Al'Qaeda?

2. He has made efforts to heal some of the rifts between the Jewish faith and Catholicism. He will probably be known as the great reconcilier. The NPR reporter speculated that he will be know as a 'the Great' a title only shared with Leo and Gregory. He was the first Pope to set foot in a Mosque (in Damascus). However he has not had as much luck re-uniting the Western Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches since the Iron Curtain fell and Communism declined. He has also had limited success healing the rift with the Anglican Church due that churches appointment of women as priests. Reconciliations between the major religions is a good thing, as

3. He granted an audience to Bono from U2 to discuss third world debt. Granted Bono did not make much headway, but not just anyone can get a meeting with the Pope. The fact that JP2 would grant an audience with a pop-star in my opinion proves that had an eye on pop-culture, and he made efforts to appeal to a younger generation of the faithful.

He also had his failings and some of his doctrine and dogma has and will prove to be detrimental. But as he just passed, I will not mention those here as history will judge him.

I hope that the next Pope will be more open to the realities of the modern age and help to reform and modernize the Catholic Church. Issues I view important that the next Pope will have to address are the usual; birth control, women as priests, homosexuality, and allowing priests to marry.

Watch for the white smoke over the Sistine Chapel, it means a new Pope has been selected (as the ballots are burned).