He may be a great person, but I cannot mourn the loss of someone who imposes such teachings as he does on the *faithful.* (I know it's his job and he may have done it admirably.) In my opinion, there is no comparison between him and the Dalai Lama.

Thanks, Spaw, for the excellent analogy.

It will be interesting with the three very prominent cases along about the same time.

LtS, as of yesterday, he was on a feeding tube: "Pope John Paul II is being fed through a nasal tube in an effort to boost his caloric intake, according to a statement from the Vatican.

The 84-year-old pope needed better nutrition to regain his strength, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said."

I know public figures are fair game for news stories, but, again, I feel the details should be private and there must be more news in the world than five-minute updates on this on every news channel there is. Let the poor man have some dignity and peace without the constant angst-ridden reports from some pundit standing outside, parroting whatever press release has been handed them.

My apologies for any offence.

kat