The Legacy of the Pope

My mother always told me, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."
(not that she stuck to her own teachings but that's another post all together ;)

I've been trying hard to hold my tongue for the last few days since I know many people looked up to the Pope and respected him; however, he should've taken some lessons as well from my mother.

The idea that the Pope "fought for justice, peace and equality for all people" is a stretch. It happened where he saw fit and politically expedient. The response of political leaders and the flags flown at half-staff are nothing more than political responses to show how religious we are.
In my local paper, a Catholic was quoted as saying Catholism grew "because Pope John Paul II reached out to everyone." I beg to differ. Another person was quoted as saying, "He was loving, and he had so much regard for human dignity and unity that now we're spoiled." I don't see it and I haven't personally experienced it from this Pope. These same people expressed wanting the next Pope to have the same "love for people" as Pope John Paul II had.

http://www.tennessean.com/special/popejohn/archives/05/03/67794813.shtml?Element_ID=67794813

His first major statement on homosexuality on October 31, 1986 described the homosexual inclination (not just the activity) as an "intrinsic moral evil" and an "objective disorder." In 1992, he suggested in another speech that basic gay civil rights legislation "may in fact have a negative impact on the family and society." And to top it off, most recently, "In his 2005 book Memory and Identity, John Paul labeled homosexuality an 'ideology of evil,' saying when discussing gay marriage that, 'It is legitimate and necessary to ask oneself if this is not perhaps part of a new ideology of evil, perhaps more insidious and hidden, which attempts to pit human rights against the family and against man.' "

http://atheism.about.com/od/popejohnpaulii/a/ho...…

Well, God help us if that's the best we can get from our moral and religious leaders who have a "love for people"!