I liked the Pope. And admired him. And, I think he is one of the heroes of the 20th century for his role in downfall of communism (not yet finished). This, despite the fact that I disagree with many of his stands on a wide variety of issues. For example, I agree with this:
Posted by David Boxenhorn at April 7, 2005 06:00 PMThere was a sense of divine intervention at the election of Karol Jozef Wojtyla as Pope John Paul II.
The first John Paul lasted only a few weeks before dropping dead. Albino Luciani was another in the long line of Italian-only Popes, stretching through five centuries, a vicar from the industrial shoreline behind Venice, a compromise candidate from the College of Cardinals, unsure of himself in his first official acts; a good man by the account of those who knew him, but promising to be ineffectual.
When he died, it was as if God called the cardinals back from the airport.
"Try again." They now went to the opposite extreme, and chose an "outsider," a Pole, a man of large human experience not only as priest, but before he ever became a priest.
The very greatest leaders in history are often, perhaps usually, outsiders - unlikely choices for the destiny that befalls them, at least in prospect. In retrospect, they seem as inevitable as John Paul II, or as Winston Churchill, or (on a lesser scale) as that other playwright-turned-saviour, Vaclav Havel.