Americans Mourn Pope as Leader and Moral Model vs. Women Critics Say Pope Never Understood Them - these capped the U.S. and Canada's respective Google headline pages as of 9:45pm EST. both are over the top - "Moral Model?" true, not in a good way.
JPII left a legacy of accomplished writings both theological and on the subject of a strikingly secular sort of social psychology (http://www.papalencyclicals.net/all.htm , start with "Fides et ratio"); his was a big brain in possession of some equally big blindspots.
he made headway in the struggle against poverty while shooting his own efforts in both feet by not supporting any realistic effort to stem birth rates or to advance the status of women toward equality, great leaps forward a Pope of his reknown could have made manifest for m(b?)illions.
he was, of course, a slave to the politics of the Vatican, as is any world leader to their respective gatekeepers and power brokers.
may he dissolve in peace, not to be politicized by disreputable news editors of major websites or by hypocritical bloggers like me. oh, sh*t...