Well the Pope is dead and the press and news agencies have really gone to town. Even the Post Courier here in PNG here has devoted three pages to it.

There is no doubt that the old guy was an important figure - he is afterall the spiritual head of 1.2 billion people - but do they have to devote so much time to it. I like the comments made on Radar by Jack Marx, this guy is voicing my opinions exactly.

That he "redrew the physical map of Europe" or "changed the world" is nonsense - if it's not, someone should tell us exactly how he did these things, rather than simply alluding to the fact that he did.

The other thing that really irked me about the whole situation is how the faithful were praying and holding vigil in the hope that he made it through. Let the old guy go for God's sake! Clearly he was not in the best of health and would have been better off shuffling off the mortal coil, but no, the faithful were too selfish to just let him pass on.