Pope John Paul II (1920-2005)

I know this is not the usual my-workplace-sucks blog but I wanted to write something about the late Pope.

I don't know what to say. I mean I'm no CNN commentator or a New York Times journalist, just an ordinary adult Catholic. I saw him in the tv when I was 15. He visited the Philippines for the second time during World Youth Day. It was overwhelming to see him on TV how much more if in person?

I was sad and got caught in the hype when he was dying. He was already sick with Parkinson's disease and he is too weak to even sit up in the Easter Mass. We agreed at home that it was about time that he died because he's too sick. But I admire his fighting spirit as he was dying. He didn't want to go back to the hospital. Maybe he knew that his time has come.

I keep tabs with CNN and BBC World (local networks just suck big time) and when he did die, it was a shock and at the same time it isn't. He's too old and Parkinson's Disease aggravated him further, it's time to go. But it hurts. After all, he is the leader of the Catholic church (all 1 billion of 'em) and has guided us Catholics for the past 26 years of his life.

He is a champion of the poor and the oppressed, granted his views on birth control, abortion, communism, celibacy, women priests and homosexuality is debatable he still managed to unite all peoples of all religions (and all walks of life) in this planet of ours. I mean he is the first pope to visit a mosque, a synagogue and forgave his assassin. Unless all of these are just for a show. If that's the case then he's been playing this charade for 26 years, which I doubt.

Next to Mother Teresa, or rather St. Mother Teresa, the late pope is one of our role models. He is young and energetic and the charisma he possessed is irreplacable. It's going to be tough for the next pope to continue what Karol Wotyla has started. Good luck to him.

But let's also hope that the next pope would be not too traditional. The world is changing and so should the church.