Sad day for the faithful

Today is a sad day indeed for the Roman Catholic Church. Pope John Paul II has passed beyond the Pearl Gates and into the loving arms of the Father.

Now I'm not as devout a Catholic as I probably should be but he's been Pope ever since I was born. Over the course of 2 days, his health had been steadily declining. I heard about it Friday morning (April 1) so some of my friends thought it was a (sick) April fools joke. Being on CNN, I tended to think otherwise.

As the hours dragged on, the news fluctuated between "Oh, he already died!" to "He's weak but alert". Now, just an hour ago the Vatican reported that the Pope has left us. He will leave a large void in the Catholic Church that will be very difficult to fill. He was (to me) one of the if not most influential figure in the world. Many people agreed with his views, many people disagreed, but all respected the man.

I myself saw the pope last Christmas 2003. Me and my officemates were in St. Peter's Square and we saw him when he was giving mass. I was probably about 15-20 meters away from him, the closest I've ever been to a world leader (with a flock of over 1 Billion ppl, I consider him a world leader). Now that I think about it, I am saddended that this was the last and only time I saw the Pope. Not surprisingly, it's raining over here in Toronto. They say that if it rains when a person dies, it is because Heaven is crying. I do believe that.

I wish you God-speed, Pope John Paul II.