Randomest's Ramblings

Father Anthony of St. Basil the Great in Los Gatos, sent these prayers. I thought they were beautiful, so I thought I'd share.

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PRAYER FOR THE POPE

May the Lord God, the all-merciful and compassionate,
have mercy on the servant of God, His Holiness JOHN
PAUL II, Pope of Rome. May the Mother of God, the
hosts of angels surround him and protect him from
invisible enemies, and defend him.

and

His Holiness, +JOHN PAUL II, Pope of Rome, has died.
1920 - 2005

May Christ our true God, risen from the dead, by death
trampling Death and granting life to all in the tombs,
place the soul of His departed servant, JOHN PAUL II,
Pope of Rome, in the abode of all the Saints, and
remember him forever. Eternal Memory! Vicnaja pamjat!
For Christ is Risen, Christos voskrese!
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I wonder who the next pope will be?

The talking heads always talk about "front runners." Historically front runners (at least in modern times) have rarely been chosen to be pope. Of those, however, several people seem to be drawing a lot of outside attention. Especially the African Cardinal Arinze, who is interesting, and has been called both divisive but also a bridge builder. There are several interesting candidates from Latin America. The head of the Ukranian Catholic church, Cardinal Lubomyr Cardinal Husar who is Byzantine and is sometimes mentioned as having an outside chance. Nobody would have have thought John Paul II as more than an outside chance, himself. Food for thought.