Not being a Roman Catholic, having laughed at SNL and Father Guido Sarducci's "Find the Pope in the Pizza" contest, etc., but having had the poster of the Pope in my high schoool locker as a joke to throw off the neighbouring Rick Springfield and John Travolta posterers, I have always had a soft spot for the tough man from Poland, especially given his anti-Nazi, anti-Soviet years, the timing and the circumstances of Karol Wojtyla ascension to the Vatican as well as my own time working in Poland.

Karol Wojtyla, right, Polish soldier 1939

So I have a lot of respect for him and a heck of a lot reading this news this morning using his own last hours as an example:

"The Pope is still lucid, fully conscious and extraordinarily serene," Navarro-Valls said. He said the Pope remained "in very serious condition" with unstable blood pressure. "He is fully conscious about the real gravity of the situation and he asked whether it was strictly necessary to go to the hospital. He has decided to remain" at the Vatican, the spokesman said. Pope John Paul suffered heart failure during treatment for a urinary tract infection and was in "very serious" condition on Friday, the Vatican said... "This morning, the condition of the Holy Father is very serious," he said. Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope's vicar for Rome, said he visited John Paul early today and was inspired. "I prayed with him for a moment which profoundly moved me. The Pope has completely left himself in God's hands.