Some blog hits for those interested in remembering/interpreting the last pope and guessing about the next one:

• From Beliefnet.com, the Global Test consideration.:
  

  “How is the Catholic Church—as the world’s first transnational community—going to relate to Islam, Judaism, and all the other faiths, as a global community? This pope took important steps, but it was only the beginning of a long and difficult process, and doing so goes to the heart of the mission of the Catholic Church.”

  Global community? Does the Catholic Church have to put up with that baloney? I’m thinking you say, “We’re the Catholic Church and you’re not. We’ll elect the best man to the job, and if he doesn’t have the correct skin color and nationality to meet your idea of diversity, the door to our confessional is always open for your convenience. And by the way, he’ll be a man and he’ll be straight and he won’t be married, so American and European pinko-Catholics: line up and kiss the ring.”

  I guess they don’t get to say that.

But seriously, folks …

• fine observations on the game in play by Urthshu including a couple of interesting guesses:

  There are two main factions: One wants power tightly held in the Papal Court, the other wants greater latitude [eg, power] given to the Cardinals and Bishops.
  Naturally, the American delegation will more than likely side with decentralization. The Europeans are a toss-up, but I’m betting they’ll swing towards holding onto their little concession. I think the Latin Americans, Africans, and Phillipinos will be divided and hence key to the decision making [if Carter doesn’t certify anything, that is]. They’ll be keeping an eye out for their future ambitions within the Church, but two of them also represent the literal front lines of the religious-based wars between Christendom & Islam. Having a strong Papal Court may bolster their own poorer outposts.

• According to this story, Pope John Paul II (JPII to those who either knew him well or — like me — are just too lazy to keep typing Pope John Paul II) considered retiring at 80. But I don’t know if they’ve got it quite right. They start off the story by saying “Pope John Paul II, weighed down by illness and age, considered resigning at age 80, according to his last will and testament published Thursday.” But then when they get back to it after going on a 14-paragraph rabbit trail, they say that in his final testament entry in Lent of 2000
  

  he appeared to consider stepping aside. “Now, in the year during which my age reaches 80 years, it is necessary to ask if it is not the time to repeat the words of the biblical Simeon, “Nunc dimittis.” The reference is to the passage, “Now Master you may let your servant go.”

  Retiring? It sounds to me like he was pondering how much longer he would live. But since he also requested that his personal papers be burned, we’ll probably never know.

• By way of Mere Comments, this story from Italian journalist Sandro Magister on the shift toward religious neoconservatism by some of the cardinals at the top. It’s a worthwhile read also for interesting background and perspective on the actions of JPII, including the exhaustive traveling, the ecumenical efforts and the flurry of apologies on behalf of the Catholic Church.
  Positing JPII’s conviction that there had to be a “Papal Revolution” in Christianity’s third millennium, Magister says:

  He understood this intuitively and performed what he saw as prophetic gestures, flashes of lightning announcing a new Papal Revolution: his voyages to the farthest reaches of the world; his challenges to the modern political and cultural empires of evil; the interreligious gatherings in Assisi for peace; the “mea culpas” for the past sins of Christianity.

  Since the Orthodox Church was one of those apologized to, we certainly should feel obligated to the late pope, even if we aren’t completely comfortable with the idea of a Papal Revolution. I know that there are people who were only made angrier by these ‘mea culpas,’ but I’m afraid I don’t understand the inclination to to be so dismissive of an olive branch, even if you would have preferred the keys to the kingdom. Just my opinion, of course.

• And Orthodixie has the solution to everything! Why didn’t we think of it earlier?
  

  Today’s election sent shock waves through ecclesiastical circles worldwide. It even had an effect on the Markets of four countries. It has been almost 1,000 years since the Church divided into East and West. Experts say full unification and consensus on all matters will not be realized for some time. However, the naming of an Orthodox Patriarch to the Papal Throne goes a very long way toward that goal.

  “We had suspected, knowing the Holy Father’s longing for Unity, that something like this might take place,” said Fr Guildo Martinez of San Louppe Calistrato. “I don’t know what it all means … I mean, a Pope’s a Pope, right? Today, we’re all Catholics!”

  I’m not taking Latin classes and no one can make me. By golly, they can just say “Christos aneste” and “Christos voskrese” and “Al-Maseeh qam” with the rest of God’s chosen people or the deal’s off.

But seriously (again) …

The Web is full of tributes to the man, but here were two that I thought transcended the usual:

• A rabbinic eulogy from Rabbi Daniel Lapin
• Irish John’s flash presentation offers a life in pictures and lets you fill in your own thoughts