This morning before the news of the Pope's death, Hugh Hewitt wrote: "With Reagan and Solzhenitsyn, John Paul II represents the three forces of opposition to communism that shattered the evil empire, the Soviet Union --the American-led West, the Eastern European resistance, and the Russian dissident movement. They also represented the three spheres of opposition: political, artistic and spiritual. Each man came into the field of his greatness later in life, and each has endured hard circumstances in their later years. I hope Solzhenitisyn is able to and inclined to write about his colleagues in the struggle that triumphed."

I am not a Catholic, but there is no denying the huge impact for good that Pope John Paul II made on the world.

UPDATE: I relied on what turned out to be a premature report of the Pope's death when I made this post. None the less it appears his time on earth is coming to an end.