Piety can be misplaced

At last! Someone has said what I've been thinking all week! Polly Toynbee in the Guardian came right off the fence today. Just who was this Pope John Paul II anyway? Didn't he espouse such traditional Catholic values that he campaigned against the use of condoms, thereby contributing materially to the deaths of hundreds of thousands if not millions in Africa? Children across that blighted continent have contracted HIV/Aids at birth because no steps are being taken to halt the spread of this disease. True, government policies across Africa do nothing to help, and much to hinder, but how much of this might have been changed if the head of the Church in half of Christendom had told them that their policies were wrong?

The outpouring of grief for the dead man seems strong. I'm not sure whether every pilgrim in Rome this week is there through genuine sadness or because this is a story they could "tell their grandchildren", in much the same way as Princess Diana's funeral was. I've heard at least one visitor say on the news that she was there to immerse herself in the solemnity of the atmosphere. Whatever, it cannot be contested that most people there are praying for the Pope's soul. He might just need it: I reckon his record could leave him which much to answer for as he goes to meet his God.