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By Mark Kilmer Posted in Elections — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

This Sunday Morning was unique in our experiences, if only for seeing a Pope's body lying in State in the Clementine the Vatican.

{READ ON for the reviews)

MTP: RUSSERT'S ROUNDTABLE. Host Tim Russert's big question on NBC's Meet the Press was: "How will history remember him?" That being said, Archbishop John Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, spoke glowingly of the Pope's concern for the rights and needs of individual people. His greatest achievement, Archbishop Foley suggested, was the fall of communism. The Reverend Tom Reese, editor of America: the National Catholic Weekly, thought his legacy included the healing of relations between the Catholics and the Jews: "One thousand years from now, when schoolchildren don't know what communists are, there will still be Catholics and Jews."

Russert, showing a little of his "Catholic schoolboy" neurosis, charged that there was a "shortage of priests" and that the Catholic Church should "expand its universe" of who is eligible for the Priesthood, which sounded like what the U.S. military might do when recruitment goals are not met. Foley told him that "we can't change the teachings of Christ." He suggested that the Church might reserve the "crucial roles" -- the Eucharist, marriage, confession, etc. -- for the priests while doling out other duties to laity such as deacons.

Margaret Steinfels of Fordham Center on Religion and Culture expects the Pope following the next one -- two Popes from now -- to allow married men to become priests. Monsignor John Strynkowski suggested that the next Pope will ask the bishops before such a policy is implemented, citing a similar question he said was put before the bishops by Pope Paul VI -- on whether to allow older men to become Priests.

Russert talked to former ambassador to the Vatican Ray Flynn who shared some personal stories. Newsweek editor Jon Meacham, Russert's expert on Christianity -- he's written a few throwaway attack pieces on the subject -- said nothing of import.

FNS: WALLACE'S DISCUSSION. On Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace spoke to a panel via various satellite connections. Bishop Donald Wuerl of Pittsburgh held that Pope John Paul II "was called to speak that body of teaching we are called to believe." This is an answer to the various liberal commentators who give the Pope low marks for not changing the nature of the Catholic Church to accept modern secular human trends such as the birth control and the ordination of women.

"He never wavered, he was never unsure about teaching what the church calls us to believe," Wuerl added.

Bishop Joseph Galante of Camden, New Jersey, intoned that Pope John Paul II was a "mystic," someone who became so absorbed in prayer. He felt that the successor must be, like John Paul II, both "spiritual" and "accessible."

Wuerl felt that the next Pope "may be someone from outside Europe."

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson, a former ambassador to the Vatican, was next on FNS. He explained how the late General Vernon Walters, President Reagan's special envoy to the Vatican, used to explain the latest military intelligence and U.S. strategy vis-à-vis the Soviet Union to the Pope. He said that the Pope "really thought a lot of President Bush" (although the mainstream media likes to portray their disagreement over what to do with Iraq to be the defining issue of their relationship).

Noting the tremendous growth of the Catholic Church in Latin America and in Africa, Nicholson agreed with Wallace that "from where the [next] Pope comes will be a big question for the conclave." He said, though, that since over half the Cardinals are European, the next Pope probably will not come from outside Europe. He suggested that they might pick an older man to serve during a short interregnum before they transition to a younger Pope to carry them deeper into the 21st century.

FTN: SCHIEFFER'S CHAT. CBS News' Allen Pizzey, reporting from the Vatican, talked about how an official speech contained the words "the Great" after John Paul's name, though they weren't actually spoken. Schieffer, displaying his depth of understanding, asked if this meant that he would be made a Saint. Pizzey answered that the process wouldn't start for five years.

In studio, Monsignor Brian Ferne, dean of Canon Law at Catholic University, described the Pope as a "great person" and a "great communicator. He had a "great absolute instinct" for communicating with the people.

Schieffer introduced his next guest, former Jimmy Carter National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, whom Schieffer explained had known the Pope back when he was in Poland. Brzezinski smiled and corrected that he'd actually met the Pope when John Paul when the latter had lectured at Harvard. (News to me.)

Brzezinski called the Pope "unpretentious": "That's what gave him political power." His sincereity and his "depth of faith" also gave him political power without being overtly political, Brz said. Schieffer noted that the Pope was "very political," and Brz said he was so without being intentionally so.

Ferne added that he was "extremely engaging. He was a great intellectual."

NEXT PANEL: Out with Brzezinski, in with TIME Mag's religion editor, whose name I didn't catch. Ferne declared that the Cardinals would meet for 15-20 days to discuss things and plan various things, then they would go into a conclave. Ferne intimated that for the first 21 votes, a potential papal candidate would have to receive a 2/3rds vote of the assembled Cardinals, while after that, it would require only a simple majority.

The TIME Mag fellow said that the next Pope will not be an American, as the world's lone religious superpower (Vatican) should not be led by someone from the world's lone military superpower (United States). He thinks they'll select another Italian. He also said that the next Pope will have to redefine the role of women in the Church and open the doors to the worlds bishops which were closed during John Paul's papacy.

TW: CARDINAL BERNARD LAW. On TW, Steph talked to the former Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Bernard Law. He feels that, in his death, the Pope is "almost reaching out to us from beyond the grave." Steph talked about "the sex abuse scandals," pointing out that Pope John Paul II "never apologized for it." Steph asked Law if he thought there were more he could have done. Law said that now was not the time to reflect on that issue, but that he has tried to be faithful to the message of Jesus Christ in his "own ministry."

Cardinal Law explained that "it's not a matter of being liberal or conservative, it is being true to the message of Jesus Christ, as the Church teaches it."

He spoke of how we have to show concern for those who are "marginal" in society, the church has to be a "beacon of hope."

Steph then went on to talk to a panel of sorts.

FATHER DAVID O'CONNELL OF CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY, LATE EDITION. Blitzer revealed that most Americans surveyed feel that John Paul II should be made a catholic Saint. A survey of American Catholics showed that many thought he was good Pope but not great. Father O'Connell repeated the story of the Pope's last moments, holding the hand of personal secretary and longtime friend Bishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, looking out the window toward the crowd in St. Peter's square, and sighing: "Amen." O'Connell said, "He knew that it is finished," echoing if accidentally the last words of Jesus Christ.

COLIN POWELL ON LE. Blitzer next spoke with former Secretary of State Colin Powell. He spoke of meeting with the Pope (with the President) in the summer of 2004, and his private audience in June of 2003. Powell said that it was clear that the Pope's health was deteriorating. Blitzer wanted to know what the Pope said in the 2003 meeting, after we had invaded against Iraq. Powell stressed that the Pope was heartened that Powell was going to the Middle East to work.

He stressed that "clearly the Pope's health was failing" when he met with Powell and President Bush last summer.

The Pope had joked with Powell about whether he was related to Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts. And Blitzer showed a slide of when a younger Colin Powell and his wife Alma met the younger Pope 20-years-ago when they traveled to the Vatican with Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger.

"There was... nobody he would not talk to and communicate with... The Pope was always a leader who wanted to reach out and touch."

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No John McCain or Joe Biden today, though Biden is a Catholic and revealed, on the FOX News Channel Saturday, a personal anecdote from one of his meetings with the Pope. Schieffer probably asked McCain about the Pope's health last week.

Aside from some remarks from the hosts and a few oddballs who want the Church to "get with the program" and become more secular and modern, this was a respectful Sunday morning, and the Pope was lauded a man of import to all humans, not only to Catholics.

These past few weeks call for reflection, for those not so locked into personal vacancy that little or nothing has metaphysical meaning. And we must also contemplate, if but for our own sakes: Now what?