Pontiff-icating

Last night I heard the TV news from the other room..."thousands have flown from around the world and traveled from very far, to come and wait in line, anxiously, for many hours. Police help with crowd control and the media are swarming everywhere..."

They were of course talking about the dead pope. But for a split second, I thought: Gee, it sounds like the gay weddings in San Francisco last year.

What a surreal comparison. But an appropriate one. Because one of those things is worth traveling very far and celebrating and the death of an oppressor isn't one of those.

For the last week or so as the pope was dying you couldn't help but note that the media was breathlessly covering every macabre update. "Traecheotomies, heart stoppage and organ failure, oh my!"

It made me think of that old Saturday Night Live skit on Weekend Update. "This just in, President Francisco Franco of Spain is still dead". [I think I just outed myself for being over 40.]

Seriously, it's hard to be flippant when so many millions, or billions, of people are so affected by the death of one person, but sometimes you just want to shake people and scream at them.

HE WAS HOMOPHOBIC, HE WAS MISOGYNIST, HE WAS BACK-ASSWARD. IS THIS REALLY THAT BAD OF A THING!

God! It's like when Reagan died. What's with the sudden case of massive selective memory.

Think about it.

How many millions of people across the globe may not have contracted HIV or AIDS had JP2 had a more enlightened position on the overtly controversial issue of condom usage? Seriously, think about it! And let's not bring up the issue of overpopulation, the extinciton of so many animal species and the slow death of the planet under the weight of all of this human consumption and expansionism. Really, why is birth control such a bad thing? Is every sperm truly that sacred? Why can't women be priests? I think that as a whole, women are generally more spiritual than men, and are usually better people, and more rational as leaders. What's up with that strict rule? We as human beings are supposed to keep evolving, and our societies, our religions, our laws should keep up with us.

And what is with that really long and voluminous dress and the silly hat? Will the coffin have to be made extra long so they can put that on him?

Whatever.