I stayed up until 4 am Friday morning on Thursday night with my father. We were watching the live broadcast of Pope John Paul II's funeral from St. Peter's Square in Vatican City. It was momenetous and you could feel the grandeur of the event radiate from the television. Never in my life have I ever heard of anything so awe-inspiring as was this funeral for the most beloved world figure of the modern age, this Polish Pontiff. Nearly every world leader was there, including the Iranian and Jordan heads of state. Some notable were not in attendance. The Humanitarian President, Jimmy Carter, was not permitted by the Bush Administration to attend on behalf of the United States because of his criticism of the war in Iraq. You see, each nation could only have five representatives in immediate attendance in St. Peter's Square. Because of Carter's criticisms, Bush excluded him and instead allowed the doormat Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. So Presidents Bush 41, Clinton (now a panderer and media whore), First Lady Laura Bush, and "W" were the other four. Seeing the majority of the world's leaders within direct proximity of each other was something that will go down in history unparallelled.
Anyways, I hate hypocrisy. So seeing the most hypocritical and terror-inducing American President in history kneel before the Pope's cypress box reminded me of that scene in The Devil's Advocate when Al Pacino dipped his finger in Holy water inside a Cathedral and the water immediately began to boil. Now I am not calling Bush Satan. Not exactly. But nearly every speech, bill, executive order, and thrashing of the english language that George W. Bush has given in his 5 years as Commander-in-Chief has been in complete contradiction with Catholic teaching and what Pope John Paul II stood for.
Feeling the same way I do, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro called Bush a "hypocrite" yesterday. The CNN article here. Now Fidel has had minced words with the Pope in the past. During the Pope's first decade, he was a stallwart opponent of Castro's brand of Communism. In more recent years, the Pope has warned and criticized the American brand of Capitalism. It creates too much poverty. So the Pope was able to find common ground with many leaders while still being openly critical of what they do AS leaders.
The Catholic Church, right now, is enjoying global attention like never before. I pray that the next Pope can and will capitalize on being in the center stage, the chance to achieve world peace has never looked so ripe.
