I guess most people know by now that Karl Wojtyla, better known as Pope John Paul II, Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, died on April 2nd, 2005.  There's a couple of things I need to get off my chest about this:

• Many people talk about a great loss, being sad, mourning ...  Especially shocking were a couple of elderly ladies on Austrian TV saying "I hope very much that he will recover from this and be with us some more".  Come on, people.  The man was old, has lived a filled life, and had been suffering badly in the last months or even years.  Were I in his place, I know I would wish for nothing else but be allowed to rest forever.  It's seldom that I felt so happy about somebody dying: I felt joy about the fact that his suffering was over.  Cardinal Danneels from my home country Belgium seems to agree with me: Today is no day of sadness (you'll probably need the Fish since the article is in Dutch).
• There was no spraying of champagne-ersatz after the Grand Prix of Bahrain yesterday, out of respect to the deceased Pope.  I agree with that.  Maybe I'm doing many people a great injustice, but I can't help wondering if the same courtesy would be extended to the Jews should their High Priest die, or the spiritual leader of other world religions.
• So who's going to be the next pope?  Cardinal Danneels is cited as a candidate (mostly in the Belgian press, though).  He has said in the past that he's not afraid of the papacy, and would accept should he be asked.  For the sake of the Roman-Catholic Church, I hope he will become pope because through my meetings with him, I'm confident that he would be a good Pope.  For the sake of the man Godfried Danneels however, I hope he will not become pope, because I imagine the papacy to be a heavy burden.  But then again, he has said he's not afraid, and he's really the only person who can know whether he's up to the task.

So Karl Wojtyla: you have done a lot of work, much of it good, some of it I don't agree with.  I would have abdicated years ago but you chose to go on.  Now finally, may you rest in peace.