John Paul the Great

[Placebo]

That's what many in the media are already referring to him as.

Do you agree?

[jdj]

1. john paul the grate on my nerves til the whatever their covering up

with this media wake gets swept under the rug.

[Swamp Rat]

2. LOL! n/t

[hippiepunk]

3. stupid arrogant fucks

only the church can name him "the great."

[Must_B_Free]

4. To me he is great

and I'm not even a Cathoholic.

granted he was working within a limited framework, but lets face it, the guy was dedicated and, I believe, honest.

[carnie_sf]

5. I think

his heart was in the right place, but he had a tendency at the end of his life strictly in terms of reproductive choice, on which I could not agree with him. When he focussed on economic justice, freedom from tyranny, and the utter insanity of war and the death penalty, he really was on his strongest footing. IMHO
Edited for typos

[porphyrian]

6. Agree that's what the media thinks of the guy? Yes.

Personally, I just think of him as another dead guy.

[gauguin57]

7. It's 2005. He can't be GREAT since he wouldn't let women be leaders

in the church.

Period.

Not to mention birth control (which includes STD control!)

He did some wonderful things, but he treated women like second-class citizens till his dying day.

Great? Not in my estimation.

[starroute]

8. Great only in the sense that he was a major world figure

And most popes aren't.

However, if the verdict of history is that he single-handedly destroyed the Catholic Church (with the aim of saving it from liberation theology and other assorted menaces), that greatness will be of a decidedly ambiguous nature.