[VRWC_minion]

Why does he hang on so long. What is he protecting his flock from ?

[firebrand]

The next pope.

[Jack Black]

Why does he hang on so long? One of his main messages has been the sacred nature of human life, all life. Even the old, the sick and the unborn. While secularists would no doubt be happy to take people in his condition and give them "physician assissted suicide" John Paul is giving a living demonstration of the importance that even one very sick old man has on the world. He is setting an example, and living his words. In so doing he is protecting all of us from the brave new world where people are devalued and degraded.