The Death of a Pope.

There's probably nothing I can say about the life or legacy of Pope John Paul II that hasn't already been or will be expressed by others more eloquent than myself, so I'm going to refrain from offering any commentary on the death of the Pontiff. Some readers may be curious where I was when the Pope died or when I heard the news, so I'll tell you. Yesterday morning I drove down to Santa Cruz, primarily to see the historic Franciscan mission there (one of my goals for this two-month sojourn in the Golden State is to visit as many of the California Missions as I can). I was at Mission Santa Cruz when John Paul II died, either in the chapel (a copy of the original, actually) or in the mission garden behind it - I don't know which because I actually didn't learn about the Pope's death until about a half-hour after it happened, when I heard the news on the radio as I was driving through bustling downtown Santa Cruz. So there, now you know.

In observance of the nine-day period of official mourning for the late Pope, I will not post again on this blog until Tuesday, April 12th. If you want to know more about the novemdiales and other papal mourning rituals, check out this article. AMDG.