A Change in Popes

Pope John Paul II passes (April 2, 2005)

and Pope Benedict XVI succeeds him (April 19, 2005)

This was significant set of events, but even more significant to my son, Zachary.

Here is Zac's reaction from his blog:

In our home, last night we said a rosary in honor of the pope, with our littlest, still only three, mouthing the words as best she could. Absent the inspiration we drew from John Paul II, I found myself wondering, would my wife and I had the courage to produce what is, by contemporary standards (and by the standards with which I was raised), a big family?

The children may have been puzzled about the tears in their father’s eyes, but as we asked Our Lady to welcome Karol Wojtyla to heaven, I realized that in some sense I owe him their very existence.

Multiply that by 100 million and you get a sense of the impact the Pope has made on the world. Imagine every time you met someone that event was very likely the high point of their life. It was the high point of mine, and I never even shook his hand. Imagine if they tried to do an episode of "This Is Your Life" or a remake of "It's a Wonderful Life". It would simply be impossible because of the tremendous impact the Pope made on literally millions of people. How many conversions? How many people decided against abortion? How many decided to have another child? This man forgave the man who tried to assassinate him and softened his heart.

We remember him for the big things, like the fall of communism, but I think the more lasting change will be the millions of lives he touched in small ways, the lives he inspired and will continue to inspire by the example of his faith and his life. He lived life as it should be lived and is an example for all.

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Waiting for passing on April 1

The banner on Zac's blog page

Joannes Paulus II
Requescat in Pace
Passed to Eternal Life:
9:37 PM, April 2, the Vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday, In the Year of Our Lord, 2005

Speculation on succeeding Pope

The next pope is Cardinal Ratzinger aka Benedict XVI

An excerpt from the last homily of Josef Cardinal Ratzinger:

Let us dwell on only two points. The first is the journey towards "the maturity of Christ" as it is said in the Italian text, simplifying it a bit. More precisely, according to the Greek text, we should speak of the "measure of the fullness of Christ," to which we are called to reach in order to be true adults in the faith. We should not remain infants in faith, in a state of minority. And what does it mean to be an infant in faith? St. Paul answers: It means "tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery" (Ephesians 4:14). This description is very relevant today!

How many winds of doctrine we have known in recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many ways of thinking... The small boat of thought of many Christians has often been tossed about by these waves - thrown from one extreme to the other: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism, and so forth. Every day new sects are created and what St. Paul says about human trickery comes true, with cunning which tries to draw those into error (cf Ephesians 4:14). Having a clear faith, based on the Creed of the Church Bible, is often labeled today as a fundamentalism. Whereas, relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and "swept along by every wind of teaching," looks like the only attitude (acceptable) to today's standards. We are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires.

However, we have a different goal: the Son of God, true man. He is the measure of true humanism. Being an "Adult" means having a faith which does not follow the waves of today's fashions or the latest novelties. A faith which is deeply rooted in friendship with Christ is adult and mature. It is this friendship which opens us up to all that is good and gives us the knowledge to judge true from false, and deceit from truth. We must become mature in this adult faith; we must guide the flock of Christ to this faith. And it is this faith - only faith - which creates unity and takes form in love. On this theme, St. Paul offers us some beautiful words - in contrast to the continual ups and downs of those were are like infants, tossed about by the waves: (he says) make truth in love, as the basic formula of Christian existence. In Christ, truth and love coincide. To the extent that we draw near to Christ, in our own life, truth and love merge. Love without truth would be blind; truth without love would be like "a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal" (1 Corinthians 13:1).