R.I.P. JOHN PAUL II

Pope John Paul II has passed away Pope John Paul II died today, finally succumbing to years of illness endured painfully and publicly, ending an extraordinary, if sometimes polarizing, 26-year reign that remade the papacy. ... . Born as Karol Wojtyla on May 18, 1920 in Wadowice, Poland, he was 84 years old and suffered for years from Parkinson's disease, which slumped his head, shook his hands and slurred his speech. In the last few weeks of his life, following two earlier hospitalizations and a tracheotomy operation in February, a pope known for his great ability as a communicator could hardly speak. In 1978, he came to office as a fit and handsome 58 year-old, blessed with a charisma, intellectual vigor and energy that took him to 129 foreign countries as the pulse of the Catholic church moved away from Europe to Africa, Asia and Latin America. . . He served either the second or third longest of any pope, depending who did the counting, in the nearly 2,000-year history of the papacy - making him the only Pope whom many young and middle-aged Catholics around the world remember clearly. A Pole chosen as the first non-Italian pope in 455 years, he transformed the papacy into a television-ready voice for peace, war and life, from the womb to the wheelchair. He also reached beyond religion into politics, encouraging his fellow Poles and other Europeans to reject Communism. Some historians believe he deserves part of the credit for the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union.