It will be hard to beat a world event like the funeral of Pope John Paul or Joannus Paulus II or his real Polish name Karol Wojtyla. Four million people, pilgrims and atheists, thronged to the Vatican not so much for the event but to pay their respects to the man, a priest to the last, as the Cardinal conducting the funeral said.
The Vatican's site has a good summary of his life.
The Polish pilgrims apparently outnumbered the others singing a Polish chant that sounded like "Roll out the Barrel". The Pope will be remembered for his preaching for change for liberalism in Central Europe but he was an authoritarian figure in the Church he headed.
Mark Steyn of the Daily Telegraph's report on the Pontiff is an eye opener. (Thanks Thomas Paul.)
