Unless you read the New York Times, you can't have escaped the fact that Pope John Paul II died. Here in St. Louis, the local paper has treated us to wall to wall coverage, seemingly the only other thing that comes close was that the final four (as in College Basketball) was played here as well. The cable news people have wall to wall coverage, pushing even Michael Jackson's legal difficulties into the background. I'm not sure what I can add, but I'll try anyway.
I'm not Catholic, and this isn't the time to go into my theological differences with Catholicism (of which I have a few). And as an institution that has been around so long, it's made it's share of mistakes. But this isn't the time to go into them. Now is the time to remember Pope John Paul II and celebrate his life. And there is much to celebrate. But I'm not going to give a laundry list, instead I'm just going to say that this Pope had moral authority, and he excercised it well. I think one of the differences between left and right is that the left looks more to institutions, such as the UN, for moral authority, while the right looks more to people for moral authority (or at least for it's expression). And one of interesting quirks of people, this one included, is how we love to have a moral authority on our side, but seek to undermine it when it is arrayed against us.
The next pope may end up with as much or more such moral authority as Pope John Paul II, though I doubt it, but he won't have it to start with. It takes a lifetime of moral action, of consistantly standing up for what you believe to be right despite all the slings and arrows that come your way. Now I don't think the Pope was always right, but I do think that because of who he was you needed to pay attention to what he was saying. I will miss his voice.
