RIP

HI,

India Today declared three days of mourning ............. The national flag would Fly at half mast for three days.

Source:APP

Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekawat will lead an Indian parliamentary delegation to attend Pope John Paul II's funeral later this week, the government said.

India, a majority Hindu nation, declared three days of mourning for the pontiff with the national flag flying at half mast after the Vatican announced the 84-year-old pope's death on Saturday due to heart failure.

The pope visited India twice, once in 1986 when Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister and in 1999 when the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party was in power.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh paid tribute to a "pope of the people" whose popularity in India shot up after the 2003 beatification of Mother Teresa, founder of the order of Missionaries of Charity in India's eastern port city of Calcutta.

Christians constitute just two percent of India's billion-plus population.

Peace
-=SF_13=-

A good man, a long long reign and that's two in a row: Popes who made Catholicism more relevant to the modern world, getting it caught up with the modern world while not compromising the on core values of the faith. For many, the reign of John Paul II has restored their faith and reaffirmed their convictions. I have seldom ever heard anyone with much to say about John Paul II that was bad.

Originally Posted by Charge_7

I think you're taking it the wrong way. If your father were hovering near death you'd hold a vigil wouldn't you? Well the Pope was of course the father of the Roman Catholic Church and as such the world held a vigil.

it became more than a vigil when it was televised like the olympics were televised. well, the media does like to take advantage of people. even in their most personal moments. damn the media and damn all they do.

Uh, how do you have a global vigil without television?

it became more than a vigil when it was televised like the olympics were televised. well, the media does like to take advantage of people. even in their most personal moments. damn the media and damn all they do.

John Paul recognized the power of the media, he used it all the time to get his message to the world. His papacy was conducted in the full glare of the camera. He globetrotted physically by plane and Popemobile, and electronically via the "mass" media (no pun intended). He spoke out against the West's "culture of death" -- abortion, euthanasia, death penalty, and especially about Terry Schiavo. And he meant his death to be seen publicly. He was saying: this is how you die. No heroic measures, but no euthanasia either. "Thy will be done." Sure, it isn't pretty. But he died in dignity, with the world watching.

Besides, it's not like it's without precedent. Jesus died a very public death. And did it with dignity.

Okay.. a little sad.