JP II the Great

Yes I've been a little lazy this weekend, but I also felt a little overwhelmed with all of the Pope coverage. I'm pretty bad at weeding out material to post for big stories such as this. There is so much out on the net that I can't help but suffer from sensory overload. So here is what I've enjoyed today. The Washington Post reports that at the Requiem held for the late pontiff he was referred to as "the Great". This kind of takes the oomph out of Fr. Richard John Neuhaus' piece suggesting that the JP II could be referred to as "the Great." He also declares that:

If any phrase encapsulates the message that John Paul declared to the world, it is probably "prophetic humanism." There is nothing more humanistic than the Catholic Christianity that he proclaimed and lived. The message centers in the astounding truth that God became a human being in Jesus Christ. You cannot get more humanistic than that.

Neuhas goes on to tick off JP's accomplishments and the tasks that he had not completed (advancing the culture of life). Note to the Vatican and Fr. Neuhaus - Peggy Noonan was first. She called him "the Great" almost three years ago. Back at the WaPost Charles Krauthammer confesses to not being much a believer

...but I find it hard not to suspect some providential hand at play when the white smoke went up at the Vatican 27 years ago and the Polish cardinal was chosen to lead the Catholic Church. Precisely at the moment that the West most desperately needed it, we were sent a champion.

Krauthammer like Neuhaus quotes Stalin's famous taunt questioning how many divisions the Pope had under his command. Krauthammer opines that JP II had proven to history that he had more than Stalin and more than Stalin could have imagined. Krauthammer closes by saying:

Under the benign and deeply humane vision of this pope, the power of faith led to the liberation of half a continent. Under the barbaric and nihilistic vision of Islam's jihadists, the power of faith has produced terror and chaos. That contrast alone, which has dawned upon us unmistakably ever since Sept. 11, should be reason enough to be grateful for John Paul II. But we mourn him for more than that. We mourn him for restoring strength to the Western idea of the free human spirit at a moment of deepest doubt and despair. And for seeing us through to today's great moment of possibility for both faith and freedom.