RIP Pope John Paul II
"From the start, Pope John Paul II has labored to keep the Church faithful to its tradition and to the teaching and spirit of Vatican Council II, while positioning it to meet the challenges of the third millennium. He is a staunch defender of the sanctity of human life - “from conception to natural death,” he often says - and of marriage and the family. Opposition to totalitarianism and support for human rights make this activist, long-reigning pope a major figure on the world political scene.
He is the most-traveled pope in history. Through Sept. 2004, he had covered over 750,000 miles during 103 pastoral visits outside Italy, over 144 within Italy, and over 300 to the parishes of Rome. In all, he has visited 133 countries and has held talks with 850 heads of state or government. Certainly he is the pope most prolific in literary output, having issued by his 84th birthday (May 2004) 14 encyclicals, 14 apostolic exhortations, 11 apostolic constitutions, 43 apostolic letters and 28 motu proprio."
Quotes from the Pope:
"The cemetery of the victims of human cruelty in our century is extended to include yet another vast cemetery, that of the unborn."
"As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live."
"The great danger for family life, in the midst of any society whose idols are pleasure, comfort and independence, lies in the fact that people close their hearts and become selfish."
"The vow of celibacy is a matter of keeping one's word to Christ and the Church. a duty and a proof of the priest's inner maturity; it is the expression of his personal dignity."
"To maintain a joyful family requires much from both the parents and the children. Each member of the family has to become, in a special way, the servant of the others."