Why is the Pope so important?

I'm sorry that he's died. But I don't see why he's so important. Why is everyone making such a big deal about his death?

Okay, so he's the head of the Catholic Church, so he has a lot of authority, and he's very famous.

But — without meaning to sound heartless — fame and authority do not make a person more significant or more important than anyone else.

Yes, the media will always make a big deal about someone famous dying. But why do Catholics hold the Pope's death with such importance? They're supposed to be Christians, so no one person should be any more important than anyone else. To Christians, the only human who ever lived who had any importance over other humans is Jesus. Everyone else is completely equal.

Er, right?

 

I was born (well, baptised or whatever the hell it is!) a Catholic but when I got to the age where I could think for myself, I abandoned religion. There are a lot of people who think it's a terrible thing to happen and yes, it is horrible that a man has died and I feel for him in that respect, but people have started to condemn me because I care no more than that. To me and many others, it's just another person dead in the world and there's a lot of people who don't respect others for being agnostic/athiest.

 

Spuff, first of all: LOVE YOUR SIG!

That photo is great. Scallies really are permanently looking over their shoulders!

Second; please reconsider your faith! I'm a Christian but I agree with you about the Pope. Many (of not most) would. Not all Christians are like the ones you rejected. Catholics may not have it right, but there are other Christians. It's not really how you worship that matters but the faith behind it: knowing if Christianity is real or not.

I know that Christianity is real, so I urge you to at least reconsider it, and don't allow other humans to taint your view of Christianity. Christianity is about what Christ said, and really nothing more. My religion is based on him, not on centuries of 'tradition'.

 

I was raised as a catholic, but like Spuff said, when i was old enough to understand things, i gradually abandoned Catholicism. However, i have a lot of respect for John Paul II. Where I come from, most people are Catholics, and for this reason, the pope visited Chile during the time when Augusto Pinochet was in power. My people were living under so much repression, these were times when you couldn’t express anything against the dictatorship, otherwise you'd be tortured and killed.

On his visit to Chile, thousands of people came on to the streets to salute him, and it was a great moment in the history of Chile. From that moment, people felt able to express their emotions...especially for younger people, who found in John Paul II a father figure. He delivered a message to them, and so created this sense of hope, that some day, our country will be free from the oppressive regime. JP II gave Chile the chance to show the reality of the dictatorship.

Also, he played a diplomatic role on behalf of the Chilean people, at a time when we were close to declaring war against Argentina. Overall, he played a mayor role in peace negotiation that as a result, he became a symbol of peace and reconciliation, and so Chilean people nicknamed him "the life messenger, peregrine of peace"

Amongst other things, he can be considered one of the greatest men in history, not because he had power, but also because he was a good man, he asked for reconciliation, for a better world, and touched the hearts of many people, especially those from less privileged societies, like in Latin-America.

 

Well, for me, I've never been a religious person so the Pope has played no part in my life or inspired any part of it. He probably was a great guy and it's sad to see any great person die but he is at the top of what I am against (religion/s in general). Saying that, I don't think less of people for following religion because people have that right to choose but there is no way I could be religious. Saying that kinda makes me a hypocrite because I believe in spirituality and the afterlife but if there is a god out there, I'm sure they won't mind whether we worship them or not. I just don't believe in religion, mainly because it tears people and counties to pieces.

By the way, I DETEST townies/chavs/scallies ... I live in the middle of them, yet somehow managed to evade their influence!

 

if 1 pope dies another one will come... how important is that? a pope is a pope is a pope is a pope is a pope is a pope

 

Zeppelina,
Thanks for that. I didn't realise the Pope was actually a great man. I just thought he had an important job and nothing more. I can see why his death has drawn such attention now.

Spuff,
Saying "I don't want to have a religion because religion causes fighting and wars" is a bit like saying "I don't want to have a girlfriend because men are always fighting over girls". What I'm saying is: evil people will always look for ways to start wars and blow people up. And religion is a very good excuse. But that doesn't make religion bad. Any true Christian would never hurt another human. You know that!

If you're going to reject faith, then reject it because you truly don't believe in it yourself! Not because of what other people do.

Mui,
Hi!

 

Well, I always say ... each to their own! You're religious and I respect that and I'm non-religious (well, agnostic) and you seem to respect that. I wouldn't like relious people pressuring me into believing what I don't, just as religious people wouldn't like to be told not to believe in.
Where I live, religion is just summat you take the piss out of coz it makes you look 'ard in front of your mates, but I, meanwhile, have looked further into it and questioned my faith (or lack of it!) many times. I believe that if god wants me to believe in them, they'll let me know ... but they haven't yet so I don't!

 

He has so many people at his side, he is the spiritual master for all Catholics in this world , so he is important. If you want to be important, dedicate yourself to high ideals like he did, then you shall be important.

 

This pope was different than many in the past. He travelled all over the world, promoting peace, and unity among people, regardless of religions. He has been to Shinto Japan and Buddhist countries, has supported the need for a Palestinian state, and even forgave the man who tried to assasinate him. He, being from Poland, directly north of my home country, played a great part in helping tearing down Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe. He has travelled the most out of any Pope in histroy, and was just a great guy who did a lot for humanity. He will be missed.

 

Also remember there are over 1 billion Catholics on the planet, so he is a very important figure...

 

im not religious any more but i used to be a good catholic boy so ill try to explain why the pope is important.

in the catholic church jesus is the head of the church and the pope is his representive on earth, he has the title 'vicar of christ'. they believe that jesus gave peter special authority to be the head of the phyisical church on earth, that this authority was passed on to his succesors from jesus to peter and then to all subsequent popes. through church tradition peter went on a mission to rome, where he was crucified for faith in christ and spreading the gospel, so the head of the visible church on earth (pope) resides in rome.
the popes job is to be the moral leader on earth, help interpret gospel, to protect gospel and traditon from being tainted, appoint bishops and cardinals, and some other stuff which makes his job a busy one.

ill assume your a protestant (and therefore already going to hell, only joking), but if your churches pastor or reverend died, youd be sad, know imagine your churches pastor lead a congregation of over 1 billion people, so naturally its a sad event for catholics.

 

I dunno if someone mentioned this already so feel free to smack my hands with a ruler...

But why were american flags flying half staved the weeks after he died? I thought we only did that for presidents or other people in really high offices.

Isn't our country not supposed to endorse and force one religion over another?

 

He's dead. People die. Everyone dies. The reason for the big hoo-ha about it (as I see it) is kind of a superficial show that everyone participates in to show how much they love their religion and and how sad they are that their human leader died. Don't get me wrong, he was a great guy, but all his followers seem to view it as a big historic event that they have to be a part of and make a big thing about so they'll remember it.

 

does he do anything?? everytime i saw him on tv he looked like he was asleep.

 

Why was the pope so important and loved?

Let me use an example of which there are millions.

See the above uncompassionate, disrespectful, small minded post?

Well, if that was told directly to the pope, he would respect this opinion and then say something like... "If you should die tomorrow, I will mourn with your family for their loss." All life was equally sacred to him and he respected everyone. He hates sin, not the sinner.

 

Is there an award for the most blatant moronic thing ever said on a message board? I suspect this was a troll.

Yeah, television always portrays the best of people.

 

America's National Motto - In God We Trust!

America's foundation is based on Christianity.

Laws are created based on religious beliefs. If there was no religion we wouldn't believe it was wrong to kill another person and no law would ever need to prevent it. We wouldn't care about stealing, rape or adultry so no laws for those either. Without religion you have no basis for whats right and wrong.

So try like you may, you cannot seperate the two completely.

 

He was not important.Now they will get a new pope.Get over it.

 

Fuck the pope.

Yeah, that's right. His anti birth control policies led to the rampant spread of the AIDS virus, so fuck him.

HIV/AIDS Facts

* Of the estimated 40,000 new HIV infections each year, more than 50 percent occur among African Americans.

* In 1998, African American women constituted 64 percent of new female AIDS cases, African American men accounted for 50 percent of new AIDS cases among men.

* AIDS is the number one cause of death for Black adults aged 25 to 44, before heart disease, cancer and homicide.

* One in 50 Black men is HIV-positive. One in 160 Black women is HIV-positive.

* Black senior citizens represent more than 50 percent of HIV cases among persons over age 55.

* Intravenous drug use is fueling the epidemic in Black communities. It accounts for 43 percent of infections among Black women and 38 percent among Black men. Many women contact HIV infection through sex with an injection drug user.

* In 1998, men of color who have sex with men represented 52 percent of total AIDS cases. By comparison, in 1989 men of color who have sex with men represented 31 percent of total AIDS cases.

* Although only 15 percent of the adolescent population in the United stated is Black, over 60 percent of AIDS cases reported in 1999 among 13-19 year olds were among Blacks.

* Black children represent almost two-thirds (62 percent) of all reported pediatric AIDS cases.

* AIDS is a global problem among Black people. The World Health Organization reveals that the disease is the number one leading cause of death in Africa. The United Nations estimated that two million Africans died of AIDS in 1998, accounting for 80 percent of the worldwide total of AIDS deaths. Nine out of ten children with HIV are in sub Saharan Africa. By the end of the year 2000, a cumulative total of 13 million children - the majority in Africa will have lost one of both parents to AIDS.

Data provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Harvard AIDS Institute