[annalex]

No, ecumenism is what various Catholic schismatics like to beat him over the head with. The late Pope's legacy also includes defeat of Communist ideology, marginalization of the liberation theology, developing the theology of the body, and, timid as it was, resistance to sundry innovators in the church. Nor was his entire ecumenist effort wrong. His incessant travel, for example, made the world more aware of Catholicism and quite possibly stemmed the decline in vocations.

[sempertrad]

No, ecumenism is what various Catholic schismatics like to beat him over the head with.

Not sure who you're talking about or what they say which is akin to beating him over the head, but I notice that many Catholics utter not one peep over his ecumenical "blunders" or the paganistic spectacles that were most of his Masses, but they go absolutely postal when Mahoney does the very same things. Why? That's what I'm trying to figure out. That, and why we are free to make judgments about the Cdl when, by all accounts, JPII not only never judged likewise, but obviously approved of him.

His incessant travel, for example, made the world more aware of Catholicism and quite possibly stemmed the decline in vocations.

Was the world less aware of Catholicism before travel became easier?

All his incessant travel did was earn him worldly celebrity status. He was looked upon by the world as a spiritual and holy man. So is the Dali Lama. So is Billy Graham. But being able to recognize the Pope when you see him on TV hardly means that one is "more aware of Catholicism." Being aware of something doesn't mean one is aware of what exactly it is and means. And if we both agree that JPII "got ecumenism wrong" I imagine people the world over are considerably less aware of Catholic teachings then they were 26 years ago.

[murphE]

The late Pope's legacy also includes defeat of Communist ideology,

I must have missed this. When was Communist ideology defeated and why hasn't anyone told China?