Pope John Paul II Day 2020
 Karol Wojtyła, Pope John Paul II |
This was a reference to Pope Paul VI whose health had been in the news at that time and I tried to take it all in stride. Rome was a busy place and the cabbies were friendly and helpful as they squired us around the city and we attempted to pursue those tourist things for which we had traveled from Civitavecchia by train earlier in the day.
When I was in Rome for the second time on September 28, 1978 the stands yet again contained newspapers with those same headlines stating that the pope had died.
I found this somewhat confusing as Pope John Paul I who was elected to succeed Pope Paul VI was a relatively young man and I remained in a state of confusion regarding the matter until I had sorted things out for myself afterwards.
Over the years controversy was uncovered regarding the death of John Paul I with the resulting widely accepted notion that he was murdered by a cardinal as he prepared for bed due to an impending scandal regarding Vatican banking to be released the next day. Of course, the scandal was averted and the perpetrator was never apprehended.
The notion of a senior member of the church being murdered by another senior member of the church pretty much did me in as a proponent of the catholic church and with the subsequent ineptitude of the so-called "two popes" and some of the totally unbiblical statements and mandates from those subsquent inept pope substitutes it's all over between the catholic church and me personally.
Karol Wojtyła of Poland was elected pope after the passing of John Paul I and remained in office until his death April 2, 2005. He chose the papal name John Paul II in deference to his predecessor.
What a uncanonical mess catholicism is devolved into since the passsing of John Paul II.
In Poland today is Pope John Paul II Day, which is a celebration of Karol Wojtyła held each Ocober 16.
There are a number of significant aspects to the date but suffice it to say that with the death of John Paul II so went my respect for the catholic church. Karol Wojtyła was the last true Vicar of Christ as far as I am concerned.
Both popes Benedict XVI and Francis have proven both unworthy and irrelevant. Francis in particular lacks biblical knowledge and wisdom as evidenced by some his rantings. Luckily judgement begins in the pulpit.