آسمان: John Paul II passed away.

some quotes from this great article in today's Globe and Mail special section about pope:

Karol Jozef Wojtyla (Voy-TEE-wah) was born May 18, 1920, in the medieval Polish town of Wadowice in the foothills of the Carpathians.

His path from university chaplain in Krakow to the See of Rome was breathtaking: a bishop at 38, archbishop at 44, cardinal at 47. And when, at 58, he was elected pope, it may have been a surprise to the crowd in St. Peter's Square — but not to Cardinal Wojtyla or the hierarchy of his church.

When he was enthroned in 1978, he became the first non-Italian pope in 455 years, the youngest pope — at 58 — in more than a century, and history's first Slavic pope. At his death, he was the fourth-longest-reigning pope.

He was by far the most-travelled pope (to more than 130 nations) and the most prolific pope (author of 13 encyclicals and, indeed, author of published poems, plays, essays and academic writings filling more than three metres of bookshelf space).

He created the most cardinals (more than 200) and authorized the most canonizations of saints (more than 475) and beatifications (about 1,300).

--With his visit to Damascus, John Paul became the first pontiff in history to visit and pray in an Islamic place of worship. Just as he had revolutionized the church's ties with Judaism by visiting Rome's synagogue in 1985, he used his visit to the Great Umayyad Mosque to turn the page with Islam, too.

He wrote a play, The Jeweller's Shop, a reflection on married love, that became a Burt Lancaster film. Columbia Records put out a CD of his prayers — recited by Britney Spears, Celine Dion, 'Nsync and other celebrities.

He became the first pope to write a bestseller (on yellow legal pads, during long plane trips), 1994's Crossing the Threshold of Hope, published in 21 languages and sold in 40 countries, for which he received an advance of $9-million (U.S.), surpassing advances paid to Ronald Reagan, Marlon Brando and Colin Powell. (Like most of his writing, it's a dense read: an assessment of the villains of philosophy who have chipped away at religion.)

He refused to modify his church's opposition to birth control. He had, in fact, as archbishop of Krakow and a favourite of Pope Paul VI, written most of Paul's 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae that affirmed the church's prohibition against birth control and shocked the liberal Catholic churches of North America and Western Europe.

He apologized to women for his church's treatment of them, but refused to follow the lead of Roman Catholicism's sister church, the Anglican Communion, and allow the ordination of women as priests.

He refused to consider ending the celibacy rule for priests. He refused to soften the church's rules against remarriage of divorced persons. In his papacy, the Vatican labelled homosexuality unnatural and abhorrent and campaigned against legislation extending benefits and legal protections to same-sex couples.

He was severely criticized by American Catholics for failing to intervene early and firmly as allegations of priestly sexual abuse of young people spread throughout the U.S. church.

To his critics, however, he was a barrier to humanity's dignified progress, a menace to an overcrowded planet because of his rejection of artificial birth control and an out-of-touch papal autocrat who considerably widened the gulf between the church's progressive and conservative factions throughout his 25-year-long reign and bungled the horrific sexual-abuse scandals that soiled the Roman Catholic Church in North America.

after his election as pope, he replaced his glasses with contact lenses that nicely showed off his eyes.

declared in 2000 that only a single Church of Christ exists, and placed the anti-Semitic pope Pius IX on the track to sainthood.

John Wilkins, editor of the influential British Catholic magazine, The Tablet, once wrote that John Paul had many of the psychological characteristics of an orphan. "He listens widely, hears few and decides alone."

George Weigel ends his biography of John Paul with a story.
Two long-time members of the Srodowisko are staying at the Pope's summer home in Castel Gandolfo. Their bedroom is just below his. Before dawn each day, they hear his cane thump-thumping across the floor. One morning at breakfast, they ask him why he gets up so early.
Because, said the leader of one billion Catholics, "I like to watch the sun rise."