JP2 the Great?
"John Paul II, or better still, John Paul II the Great, thus becomes the herald of the civilization of love ... " (Cardinal Sodano, homily at the pope's Funeral Mass, as reported by Zenit ["130,000 Attend Mass for John Paul II's Eternal Rest," 4/2/05])
I don't think suffix is going to go away. I mean, I expected the modern crop of e-pologists to be using these titles prematurely (and there's a certain arrogance in that: "the Church's opinion be damned, [i]I[/i] know he was a saint, and to [i]me[/i] he is John Paul the Great - and my opinion is all that matters, so I'm going to keep calling him that publicly"), but I didn't expect Vatican officials to be calling him "John Paul II the Great" this early.
Now, I know some of us Traditionalists are trying hard to be reserved and respectful here in this period of mourning; we had our differences with the man, but he was still our Holy Father, and this is hardly the time - barely even days after his passing - to start in with talk of Assisi, liturgical changes, strange encyclicals, meetings with the Jews, etc.
Now is a time to mourn and to pray.
But if the neoCats are going to insist on shoving this "St. John Paul II the Great" nonsense down our throats at every turn, things could get ugly fast.
I don't think suffix is going to go away. I mean, I expected the modern crop of e-pologists to be using these titles prematurely (and there's a certain arrogance in that: "the Church's opinion be damned, [i]I[/i] know he was a saint, and to [i]me[/i] he is John Paul the Great - and my opinion is all that matters, so I'm going to keep calling him that publicly"), but I didn't expect Vatican officials to be calling him "John Paul II the Great" this early.
Now, I know some of us Traditionalists are trying hard to be reserved and respectful here in this period of mourning; we had our differences with the man, but he was still our Holy Father, and this is hardly the time - barely even days after his passing - to start in with talk of Assisi, liturgical changes, strange encyclicals, meetings with the Jews, etc.
Now is a time to mourn and to pray.
But if the neoCats are going to insist on shoving this "St. John Paul II the Great" nonsense down our throats at every turn, things could get ugly fast.
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