Pope John Paul II (1920-2005)

Finally at rest after years of crippling disease, Pope John Paul II's body lay in state Sunday, his hands clutching a rosary, his pastoral staff under his arm. Millions prayed and wept at services across the globe, as the Vatican prepared for the ritual-filled funeral and conclave that will choose a successor. Television images gave the public its first view of the pope since his death: lying in the Vatican's frescoed Apostolic Palace, dressed in crimson vestments and a white bishop's miter, his head resting on a stack of gold pillows.

Pope John Paul II, who died yesterday at the age of 84, was an obscure Polish prelate who became the supreme pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, a statesman who helped bring down Eastern European communism, and a defender of the faith who insisted that the church confront the sins of its past to prepare it for the third millennium.

I humbly ask forgiveness.
May you rest in peace.