A Church Must Renew Its Battle

Go read an excellent commentary published by the Sunday Times by Daniel Johnson called, "New evils for old: a church must now renew its battle." Here's a taste.

For more than a generation, John Paul II personified the Catholic church as no pope had ever done before. For almost a fifth of humanity, the 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, he was the "Holy Father"; but for the rest of us, too, he did not merely represent the church - he was the church. What will the church be without him? During his pontificate the world around him altered beyond recognition and Catholicism underwent a transformation so profound that it was not far short of a reformation. Hardly a single aspect of Catholic Christianity was left untouched by the most formidable theologian to occupy the throne of St Peter for centuries.

Without its mighty patriarch to make sense of the modern world, the church is bound to feel disembodied and disoriented. Not only Catholics, but countless others - Jews as well as Christians, believers and unbelievers alike - will grieve for Pope Wojtyla. It was his unique form of greatness to remind a sceptical world that faith could still move mountains.

The article was written just before the conclave began, which elected Benedict XVI.