Forgive me some more Papal reflections...

[This should be it for a while, at least until the Conclave announces a successor.]

• It was very nice to see Laura Bush and Condoleeza Rice wearing mantillas at the funeral today. Respectful and traditional.
  
• It was less nice hearing that Bush (surprise!) was booed at the Papal funeral. Nice that you chose to use a solemn event celebrating the life of the Pope to voice your disagreement with Bush policies. Geez, protest somewhere else if you really want to, but don't crash a funeral.
  
• The whole thing about the Pope's will and his apparent consideration of resignation has me scratching my head. The text says no such thing, and I suspect that this is a misunderstanding from a media establishment that can't understand why someone wouldn't simply give up in the face of advancing age and medical suffering. The mentions of the "Nunc Dimittis" and the sentence, "I hope that He will help me to recognize the time until when I must continue this service," seem to involve a fundamental misapprehension: the tone of the will is clear, as the Pope asks God, in essence, "When the end comes, let me recognize it as the end and know when to give up the fight."