Then say it somewhere else. In an attempt at being fair and balanced, this thread is the place to make positive comments about the Pope and his legacy. My 2 bits?
I happened to be in Indonesia for much of the 80's and 90's. I can tell you from first hand experience that the Catholic Church was the single institution in the world that stood by the people of East Timor in the face of genocide. Since '74 over a quarter of the population was killed by the TNI (Indonesian military) - while Jimmy Carter, among other US presidents - continued to allow training of Indonesian officers at the School for the Americans. And America continued to sell Suharto weapons that were actually used to shoot down men, women and children on the steps of churches.
I was also in Indonesia in 1999 during the referendum for East Timor Independence. While Indonesian-trained militias ran amok and murdered anyone they could - a situation set up by the UN! - Timorese were herded into refugee camps by the TNI and the only people helping them for the next couple of years were folks in the Catholic Church.
I was in Bali at the time and I called a Catholic Hospital in Kupang and asked if I could help. They said they needed certain medicines - anti-diarrea - malaria - antibiotics etc... I raised about $1000 from friends and tried to figure out how to get it to Timor, which was closed off. The Bali Catholic church told me that a bunch of Catholic Brothers were passing through Bali on their way east across the archipelago to help out in Timor. I loaded them down with duffle bags full of medicine (you would be amazed how much medicine $1000 buys in Indonesia - I filled the bed of a pickup truck!) and those guys lugged the medicines hundreds of miles to the Kupang Hospital. (I called the hospital later and this was confirmed)
I don't know how much of the credit for saving East Timor should go to the Pope - Archbishop Belo certainly did great things there - but JP2 certainly had a huge role - perhaps as much as his role helping eastern block countries against the Soviet Union.
But in this instance, the Catholic Church did exactly the right thing, and served as a great moral example. It almost restored my faith in the Church. Almost.
Do you have other examples of good things done by the Pope and the church to tell this Sunday? Put them here...
Cheers, Petruk