Perspective

Lots of excitement happened on the world scene yesterday. And by "lots," I mean two incredible events. First, Pope John Paul II was beatified. For those who aren't constantly surrounded by Catholic culture, that means he is almost a saint. The beatification was a joyous occasion to remember and celebrate his life as God's servant.

On the other end of the day, President Obama announced to the world the death of Osama bin Laden. I postponed my early bedtime to catch his (hour late) address. The news had made it across the internet well before the President spoke. I don't know who officially had the story first, but for me, as well as (I imagine) many people, the news broke over Facebook. As I refreshed my Facebook page, status after status changed to celebrate the news. Interestingly, this timing coincided with the greatest concentration of profanity my newsfeed has seen.

Across the board, the announcements ring with triumph. We are, as a culture, celebrating the death of a man. And then something happened in the world of the Catholic internet. People started attributing the death of bin Laden to John Paul II's intercession, suggesting that it might be a miracle due to his beatification.

Again : people are attributing the death of a man to the Pope who fought against the culture of death, who fought for the culture of life -- who worked tirelessly for the peaceful fall of Communism and forgave the man who tried to kill him.

To offer a different perspective, I give you an excerpt from the Vatican's statement regarding bin Laden's assassination:

"Faced with the death of a man, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibility of everyone before God and man, and hopes and pledges that every event is not an opportunity for a further growth of hatred, but of peace."