Pope: Icon or Leader

Is Pope John Paul II becoming an icon for suffering while losing his role as church leader? That's the tension John Allen of National Catholic Reporter explores in his good essay out of the Pope's recent trip to Lourdes.

Excerpt:
"John Paul repeatedly slumped, winced and struggled to speak over these two days, but he seemed to connect with the faithful on a much deeper level. The Lourdes trip may thus be remembered as the moment when John Paul’s long transformation from governor of the Catholic church into living symbol of human suffering, almost an icon of Christ on the Cross, was complete."

Read the whole thing.