Pope Nears the Great Divide

Before anyone asks, no I am not Catholic. But it is still newsworthy that Pope John Paul II is in grave condition and may be dying. Many have had a lot of criticism of this pontiff, but he has certainly done many good things in his lifetime, especially his leadership in the effort to reconcile Christians and Jews.

In its latest bulletin on Friday evening, the Vatican said John Paul's heart and kidneys were failing, his breathing was shallow and his blood pressure had dropped to dangerously low levels.
"This is a life-changing night," said 26-year-old Roberto Mazzi, as he shuffled quietly into St Peter's Square. "He's the only Pope we've ever known and now he's dying. To be anywhere else, in any other mood, would be wrong."
Police estimated that as many as 70,000 people were in the vast, floodlit square as Saturday dawned, to be near the man who enjoyed the third-longest papacy in history and was a key world figure of the late 20th century.

It would truly be the end of an era.