[JohnR]

Originally Posted by Mike P

He'll be regarded as one of the greatest Popes in history and one of the giants on the world stage during the last half of the 20th century. He was seen as such a threat to the forces of tyrrany that Yuri Andropov ordered his assassination.

He is a brilliant man, fluent in almost a dozen languages, author of books, a poet, a man who fought for freedom, a man who led an active life, and now a man who's showing us how a real man faces death. I left the Church years ago, but I admire this Pope and just hope, for the billion Catholics around the world, his successor can measure up to those huge shoes he has to fill.

He had as much and probably far more to do with the collapse of the Soviet Union than Reagan did. And that will only be one of his many legacies....