A Well-Travelled Pope
Posted April 3rd, 2005 @ 12:23am by Erik J. Barzeski
The Pope's personal impact on my life was rather minimal. I respect the work he did, and I was only mildly frustrated that, typical of US and world news coverage, we talked more about the great things the guy did after he'd died than in the past, y'know, eight months while he was dying.
However, Carey and I find it pretty darn stupid that every news media outlet says things like "he's the most well-traveled Pope in history." Of course he is. He became Pope in 1978. Everyone travels more now than their predecessors did 30 years ago. And who cares how much the guy traveled? Is that that best you can find to characterize the guy? C'mon.
Donate Life
Posted 03 Apr 2005 at 12:43am #
When people call John Paul II the "most traveled" Pope in history it's almost as dumb a statement as Colin Powell is "well spoken". It's merely an empty compliment that means absolutely nothing.
What they fail to say, and some have, that his travels were an effort to reach out to people and not necessarily to those of his faith. He made great strides in Christo-Judaic relations, and he started the fire that ended the Cold War by pressing that his home country, Poland, become democratic. He used his immense power constuctively and with purpose.
The Pope had a great impact on my life, not simply because I'm a Catholic, but because of what he stood for. That's not to say I agreed with him 100% on all his views, but I truly believe he was a good man.
Posted 03 Apr 2005 at 12:53pm #
His early years in Poland are amazing. Its good every once in a while to be reminded of how sick the Nazis were and what the Nazis did to Poland. After they killed all his Jewish friends and many Catholic priests there, they put him to work in a labor camp, then flattened his hometown.