Throughout his pilgrimage, John Paul II strenuously called on all worships to an ecumenical embrace, which "revolutionized" the age-old doctrine that Catholicism is the only true religion.

That’s why as he awaited his time, rabbis, imams, pastors, prayed in churches, synagogues, chapels, and the streets for his recovery and serene passage. No other great figure of modern times has merited such an outpouring of love and goodwill.

Still, although Peter’s successor and the vicar of Christ, he was not without his faults, as noted by Christian commentators of all denominations.

An American columnist recently noted that in his early books, "Karol" called Buddhism atheistic, but in a subsequent reaction to political correctness, said he had profound respect for Buddhists.

He was also faulted for calling homosexuality as part of "the ideology of evil," of rejecting contraceptives in the face of the AIDS epidemic, and of refusing the ordination of women under the aegis of a religion which considers every human being equal in the eyes of God. For this, he was called by commentators as "a man of the present as well as of the past," a liberal and conservative, even reactionary, at the same time.

But "liberal" and "conservative" in the context of the Church is a false distinction. For all his spiritual power, his Holiness was human, not godlike, and therefore fallible.

It should be noted that when he maintained these controversial positions, he was not speaking ex cathedra.

The "sign of contradiction" was in the departed Karol’s "reaching out" to the Herods of the world in the hope that they would heed Christ’s message of peace and love.

But as the state of the world shows, the message, so far, has fallen on deaf ears.