The Church he led isn´t perfect and I didn´t always agreee with certain things that he did, or didn´t do. However, deep in my heart I believe that he always did what he thought would bring peace and salvation to the world.
I also believe that the Pope was about as good a human being as we get as far as a leader of the Roman Catholic Church. Worldly, intelligent, friendly and a source of profound change for good in Jewish-Catholic relations.
I attended a Kabalat Shabat service in Buenos Aires last night which was led by Rabbi Daniel Goldman. As he mentioned to the congregation last night, dozens of media outlets called him to ask what his opinion was of the Pope as he lay dying. Interest in a rabbi´s thoughts about the Pope couldn´t have even be contemplated in Argentina, he said, before the installation of John Paul II.
God rest his soul and God help the rest of us. My sincerest condolences go out to all those who sought to be nearer to God and godliness through their connection to the Holy Father.
Pope John Paul II places a letter into a crevice of the Western Wall. The letter, expressing the Vatican's apology for centuries of anti-Semitism, is to go on permanent display at Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Memorial of the Holocaust.
Some reference material for your perusal:
Ioannes Paulus PP. II - The Vatican's official site
Wikipedia. With a list of all popes.
Israeli government page on the Pope's Visit to Israel in 2000.
Speech of John Paul II at Yad Vashem
As Bishop of Rome and Successor of the Apostle Peter, I assure the Jewish people that the Catholic Church, motivated by the Gospel law of truth and love and by no political considerations, is deeply saddened by the hatred, acts of persecution and displays of anti-Semitism directed against the Jews by Christians at any time and in any place. The Church rejects racism in any form as a denial of the image of the Creator inherent in every human being (cf. Gen 1:26).
Praise from the Anti-Defamation League
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