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	Louisianians React to the Death of a Pope The Associated Press, carried in Times-Picayune [New Orleans LA] April 3, 2005 (AP) — On Sunday morning at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, there was no escaping a link between the two news stories that had the attention of much of the nation all last week. Archbishop Alfred Hughes, during Sunday morning Mass noted that John Paul the II had been a victim of violence — a shooting — in a May 13, 1981, assasination attempt. Then he touched on the death of a severely brain-damaged woman following an extended legal fight over whether her feeding tube should be removed. Hughes left no doubt where he stood: "We have also experienced the sad victimization of Terry Schiavo and her tragic death." •__ "Like everyone, I'm certainly saddened by his passing. I think he was one of the great popes of church history," said Jason Berry, a Catholic and a freelance journalist. Berry praised John Paul's "remarkably honest" approach to church history — including an unprecedented apology to Jews for past wrongdoings by Catholics — as well as foreign policy achievements. "Obviously his role as a catalyst in helping to bring down the Soviet empire was quite extraordinary," Berry said in an interview with The Associated Press. But Berry was critical of John Paul's passiveness in dealing with a burgeoning scandal involving pedophile priests. Berry helped uncover the scandal with a series of stories on Acadiana priest Gilbert Gauthe in the 1980s and in the book "Lead Us Not Into Temptation: Catholic Priests and the Sexual Abuse of Children." "On balance, I think it a papacy marked by paradox: The greatness of the early years shadowed by the failure of the later years and his imability to confront the needs within the church itself." •__ At Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Shreveport, Monsignor Murray Clayton acknowledged the church's scandals as he mourned the passing of one pope and looked toward the selection of another. "In the recent months, our poor Catholic church has taken a beating. The scandal in the church was so deep, many speculated the Catholic church had lost respect in the world," Clayton said. "Our church has certainly risen from those ashes in the death of Pope John Paul II. There is respect for the Catholic church throughout the world. "Throughout the next days and weeks, we will capture the imagination of the world as we look to the election of a new pope. We need to be in intense prayer." As for speculation about the next pope: "Dont bet on anyone," he said. "There is a long list and a short list running around Rome right now."
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