Here's Peggy Noonan, comparing Pope John Paul II to ... Abraham Lincoln. Sad.
... John Paul II lived, arguably, the greatest life of the 20th century, and I think his life was marked by more than the usual number of occurrences that seem fateful, even prophetic. ... There is also the interesting fact of those who seemed to know, along the way as he lived his life, that he was a man of great destiny. His predecessor, John Paul I, said he would be pope. The day he was made cardinal of Krakow, a little girl told him he would be pope. One of his best friends had an epiphany and told him he would someday lead the church. And there were of course the prophecies of saints that a light out of Poland would come at a crucial moment to head the church. It's all uncanny. But I have noticed that the great are not uncommonly surrounded by those who have a presentiment of their destiny. Lincoln was like this.
Addendum: "Keith, a student at Umass Boston", writes:
Mr. Kinsella, in response to your blog post maybe Ms. Noonan would be interested to know that Pope Pius IX, author of the Syllabus of Erros and maybe the greatest Pope in all of history was an unabashed southern sympathizer. When Jefferson Davis was imprisoned after the war the Pope sent him hand-woven crown of thorns. He was also quoted at the time by an Englishman as saying that, "all his sympathies were with the Southern Confederacy and he wished them all success." Indeed most Cahtholics were remarkable in the South for their loyalty to the Confederacy. I was watching EWTN the other day and the priest said that the agnostic Abraham Lincoln was the most prayerful president in all of U.S history. Does he know the Poet Laureate of the CSA was a Catholic priest? Guess not. And there's so much more. Just goes to show you that evangelical protestants aren't the only ones seduced ! by the religion of Americanism.
