Reflecting on the Life of John Paul II

Fire of Liberty

I apologize for my two day absence but I've had family in this weekend and I've been glued to the TV with the death of the Pontiff. I've also been reading the various reminiscing on the Pope and have discovered that the saying "the people's pope," is definitely true when you read these pieces. While there's a bevy of articles on the Holy Father throughout the various publications on the web,I've discovered that National Review Online and The Weekly Standard have the most comprehensive coverage of John Paul II. Here's several articles/flashbacks from The Weekly Standard that I've found very interesting. First, here's several pieces here, here, and here by the Pope's official biographer and author of Witness to Hope, George Weigel. Along with Weigel, you have these pieces by Bill Kristol here and Fred Barnes here on the wonderful life of the Pope and how his tenure shaped the World into a better place.

Another great source on the Pope is over at National Review Online which has about 15 pieces/flashbacks on the Holy Father. While you can read the whole list of articles, I want to direct you to several articles that I truly liked. Here's one by Michael Novak who has written extensively on Catholicism and on the future of the Catholic faith, he has a good way of getting his points out and you get something out of his writing. Here's a more philosophical take on the Pope by Thomas Hibbs. If you want to read something deep on Pope John Paul II then this is one of the best pieces that you can read. Finally, here's two pieces on the relationship between the Pope and Ronald Reagan, who formed two prongs of the Cold War Triad of Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II. Here's a piece by George Weigel on the great relationship and how it was forged via a common interest, which was the defeat of Soviet Communism throughout the World. A second individual to write on this grand friendship/coalition is Mark Riebling who has a great article here on how this relationship actually help topple the Evil Empire and put the horrors of Stalin, Breshnev and countless other commissars on the ash heap of history. Also, check out this wonderful piece by Paul Kengor, who is a professor of Political Science at Grove City College and author of God and Ronald Reagan. If you have time after reading these, feel free to read these pieces here, here, here, and here as well. Enjoy.

Also take a moment and say a little prayer for Pope John Paul II and take a little time to reflect on life, like the Pontiff always asked people to do.