See ya, wouldn't like to be ya.

The Pope is dead. Long live the Pope. Kind of.

I'm a born-and-bred lapsed Catholic. I come from a long line of paid-up sinners, where sinning means pretty much anything that involves exercising free will. Especially as a woman.

John Paul II had (as his successor will have) an unprecedented opportunity to improve the lives of the half-billion female Catholics living in the world today... about one 12th of the world's population. But with his medieval adherence to the no birth control dictum, he nailed his colours to the mast of male oppression.

And in a world riddled with sexual violence, often leading to infection with HIV and other STDs before we even get to the issue of unwanted pregnancy, his passing, in my opinion, is not something to be mourned.

I hope his successor has more balls. But I'm not holding my breath.

joella