Weblog Commenting and Trackback by HaloScan.com Rum , Rome and Royalism: John Paul the Great?

Rum , Rome and Royalism

I would much rather belong to a church five centuries behind the times and majestically indifferent to the fact than to a church five minutes behind the times, frantically running to catch up.

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

John Paul the Great?

I don't agree with everything in this article by ex-pat Australian Fr. Brian Harrison, but he raises many interesting and valuable points.

I personally find the suggestion that the current Holy Father should be offically known as "John Paul the Great" truly laughable. There have been hundreds of Popes, dozens of whom have been declared saints, many of whom steered the church through difficult times, yet only two of whom (Leo I an Gregory I) have been oficially named "the Great". On blogger, who is normally full of good sense, suggested the current Pope should be called "the Great" because he has modled great personal holiness. Presumably this blogger thinks the great number of Popes who have been declared saints but have not been given that title- men like Gregory VII, Pius V and Pius X did not have great personal holiness.