Friday, April 01, 2005

Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II is near death. Hugh Hewitt writes:

With Reagan and Solzhenitsyn, John Paul II represents the three forces of opposition to communism that shattered the evil empire, the Soviet Union --the American-led West, the Eastern European resistance, and the Russian dissident movement. They also represented the three spheres of opposition: political, artistic and spiritual. Each man came into the field of his greatness later in life, and each has endured hard circumstances in their later years. I hope Solzhenitisyn is able to and inclined to write about his colleagues in the struggle that triumphed.

A while back I linked to a book review by Sam Storms on Cardinal Ratzinger, whom some see as a possible successor to John Paul II. It may be worth another read.

Tonight I received an email from Tom Rollins, president and CEO of the Teaching Company, which produces DVD of classes by "super-teachers." They are offering, free of charge,
two complimentary lectures on the history and workings of papal elections: “How to Elect a Pope” and “Papal Elections: Then and Now.” These lectures are presented by Professor Thomas F. X. Noble—Robert M. Conway Director of the Medieval Institute and Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame.

Click here to access the free lectures.

Mr. Rollins had already planned to send these lectures before news about the pope being on his death bed. But, he writes:

After much reflection, I believe that sending the lectures is appropriate, even at this hour. You will hear much on papal succession in coming weeks, but little of it will offer the detail and depth of historical perspective contained in these two lectures. In the end, I decided that the better service to our customers, perhaps especially our Catholic customers, would be to send the lectures. A papal succession is an extraordinary moment in history, continuing the longest surviving human institution of government. John Paul II has made important changes in the process, and would, I hope, want us to help it be understood.