In God's Hands

"Through his message of hope and peace, Pope John Paul II showed us that one person acting with conviction can change the world."

OSCAR ISLAS -- Mexico City

Your Commemorative Issue on Pope John Paul II was very well done and reflected the feelings of people who loved him and followed his life as a world leader [April 11]. Thank you for echoing so many of my thoughts in outlining the good he did for the people of the world, regardless of their race or religion. He will be greatly missed and deeply appreciated for his teachings of peace.

MARY VANDERHYDE -- Oldsmar, Fla.

Kudos to Pope John Paul II for showing how to reconcile oneself to death and die with dignity. He chose to accept death and seek mercy while awaiting his entrance into another life. In a society that does not readily accept death as part of the continuum, the Pope gave a final lesson in faith by the way he faced his own death.

JO ANNE OSTROWSKI -- Whately, Mass.

I am an ex-Catholic, ex-seminarian who walked the slums of South America, teeming with devout Roman Catholics, after Pope John Paul II's visit in the 1980s. I know he saw the same poverty I saw. I was appalled and wished I could help. The Pope had the power to mitigate the worldwide overpopulation problem, yet he chose to continue the policy banning contraception, which, like the foolish rule of celibacy for priests, has no convincing basis in Scripture. I hold John Paul II accountable for millions of children who roam the earth unloved and unwanted, leading lives of abject poverty, hunger and persistent misery.

GERRY CHAPLIN -- Sherborn, Mass.

When a good man dies, his relatives and friends rightly mourn him. When a great man dies, the whole world mourns. So it is with Pope John Paul II. I have been a Jew for more than 80 years, yet I wept when I heard the news that this great man had died.

DAVID I. EPSTEIN -- Albuquerque, N.M.

Although the Pope would have understood the worldwide sense of loss at his death, I do not believe he would have viewed this outpouring of compassion as necessary. He faced death the same way he faced life, with perseverance and faith, knowing that life is not ours to control. He knew he would die when God decided it was time. We have only begun to realize the Pope's personal commitment to uniting the world in peace.

DAN STEWART -- Ashburn, Va.

I am puzzled by the worldwide emotional reactions of sorrow and emptiness caused by the Pope's death. True believers should realize that his suffering has ended and he is home now with God.

HUMBERTO SARKIS -- Beverly Hills, Calif.

Imagine: the realpolitick savvy of a Henry Kissinger combined with the moral code of a Mother Teresa. John Paul II's worldliness combined with his faith in the other world made him a remarkably effective global leader.

JOHN ANDERSON -- Elkmont, Ala.

The Pope embodied true leadership and moral courage. He called evil by its name and fought it tooth and nail. He was a symbol of democracy and the pro-life movement. The world is in debt to this great man. The Pope was the moral compass of our generation.

NICK TENG -- Plainview, N.Y.

It was amazing how the Polish people showed appreciation for what John Paul II did for our country. The night after he died, I lit a candle as a tribute to his 26 years of service. When I put it in the window of my flat, I saw hundreds of other candles in nearby buildings. The Pope was instrumental in ending communism in the 1980s, and thanks to him Poland became a better nation.

WITOLD PLUTA -- Bilgoraj, Poland

I will remember John Paul II as a Pope of the people. He did not confine himself to the Vatican but traveled the world, meeting and blessing the members of his flock, young and old, common and famous alike, a good papal shepherd.

MARY KAY ARNDT -- Arlington Heights, Ill.

o You can read additional articles from TIME's archives about Pope John Paul II at timearchive.com/collection

Policies Unchanged

Author James Carroll's evaluation of the legacy of Pope John Paul II, praising the Pontiff's "renunciation of coercive force" and his effort to heal the "ancient breach with Judaism," would have been more valid had it taken a wider perspective [April 11]. The Pope was a compassionate and pious disciple and a strong and charismatic leader. Yet he did nothing to alleviate the inequality that exists between Catholic women and men. I support the full inclusion of women in all aspects of prayer and ministry, including ordination. A number of Catholic women have experienced a God-given call to priestly ministry. The failure of John Paul II to extend his compassion to them is a forever lost opportunity of an otherwise stellar pontificate.

MARIA MARLOWE -- SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA WOMEN'S ORDINATION CONFERENCE -- West Chester, Pa.

Mistakes Were Made

The headline on your brief summary of the presidential commission's intelligence report, "No Holds Barred," was absurd [April 11]. The commission came nowhere near "assigning blame for the flawed conclusion that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction." Where are the names of operatives and senior intelligence analysts who either covered up faulty conclusions or deliberately lied to conform to President Bush's plan to invade Iraq? More than 1,500 American soldiers have died in Iraq because someone blundered, yet no heads have rolled as a result of the White House's use of suspect or flawed information to instigate an unnecessary war. Until blame is placed on actual operatives, clerks, bureaucrats and elected officials, the commission's report means nothing.

HOLMES BRANNON -- Woodland Park, Colo.

The Rights of the Minority

In his column "A New Idea for Democrats: Democracy" [April 11], Joe Klein described the right of the Senate minority to filibuster as "a matter of process rather than substance, a pinhead of a principle most civilians find difficult to understand." I was appalled by that statement because protection of minority rights is at the heart of the U.S. Constitution, purposely put there by the Founding Fathers. I am not too stupid to see the danger of one-party rule, regardless of the party. It's ironic that the U.S. is trying to protect minority rights in the new Iraqi government while here at home Congress passes laws and approves budgets and judicial nominations with scant consideration of minority views. Klein advises Democrats not to be so obsessed with the legal system but instead to trust legislatures to solve thorny problems. After the congressional circus over Terri Schiavo, I am grateful to the Founding Fathers for having had the sense to create a judiciary whose members can focus on the Constitution, not the next election.

JANE MONAHAN -- Decatur, Ga.

Klein's call for democrats to "embrace democracy" ignores the historical need for the Judicial Branch to protect minority rights. Our Constitution lays out a clear guideline that has been clouded over the years by prejudice. Klein cites the civil rights movement as a time when federal courts played a key role in integrating public schools. Yet he goes on to say the "courts soon wandered into unlegislated gray areas," and he touts "popular constitutionalism," an oxymoron if I ever heard one. Americans of all stripes deserve equal treatment, irrespective of polling data.

BRYANT WILLIAMS -- Dallas

As an evengelical conservative, I think Klein made a great point about the Schiavo case. In this instance, in which there was a caring family and a dispute over personal preferences, why didn't the judicial system favor life? On abortion, those of us who believe in federalism (states' rights) are nearly as offended by the process of judicial fiat as we are by the abortion procedure. I would accept legalized abortion if the people in my state voted for it--although I would work to have it banned in a future election. But the passion we conservatives display on the issue is inflamed because an illegitimate judicial process resulted in an immoral conclusion.

RON BRISTOL -- Silverthorne, Colo.

Finally, some common sense on the abortion issue. Let's have a nationwide referendum to settle this democratically, once and for all. But with one change in the rules: only women can vote!

RON JONES -- Plainwell, Mich.

Klein may be right that the exploitation of congressional rules is strangling democracy. But pointing a finger at the Democratic Party rather than Congress as a whole is disingenuous. Led by Republicans, Congress meddled in the Schiavo case, using legal process and technicalities to counter the courts' decisions. Klein may not like the outcome of that case, but that is democracy.

LORI FUNDERBURK -- Apex, N.C.

Democracy in the U.S. has always meant protecting individual rights. Now that Republicans are in charge of the Executive and Legislative branches of government, we are lucky that our system of checks and balances still works and the judiciary is protecting our rights. The courts may go too far on occasion, but that is preferable to the tyranny of the majority that Klein seems to support.

ROBERT WEBSTER -- San Francisco

Fonda Remembrances

As I read the excerpt from Jane Fonda's book My Life So Far [April 11], my mind flashed back to 1968-69, Quang Tri, Vietnam, when I was a Navy physician assigned to the 3rd Marine Division. Fonda will always be remembered and despised--not because she opposed the Vietnam War but because she was a traitor who went to Hanoi and gave aid and comfort to the enemy. She appeared in photo ops with the very military equipment that the North Vietnamese used to kill U.S. pilots and crew. Her actions were an insult to American troops. Many of us will go to the grave remembering the real heroes of the Vietnam War who gave so much for their country, while Fonda, the traitor, continues to take advantage of the fame and privilege the U.S. has given her family. She still hasn't got a clue about what she did.

MELVIN H. LAKE -- Kent, Wash.

Fonda's explanation for posing for a photo with North Vietnamese antiaircraft gunners during the Vietnam War is hollow, self-serving and 33 years too late. To many Vietnam-era vets, she is and always will be a traitor.

SCOTT HORNER -- Howard, Pa.

People want to forget just how wrong our country was to be in Vietnam and how much courage it took for Fonda to protest the war as she did. The traitors were the people who kept sending U.S. troops there to get killed. Fonda was and always will be a hero. We need people like her now.

TONI BOUTWELL -- Myrtle Beach, S.C.

So Fonda is sorry for that photo? She should show it by donating the proceeds of her book to veterans' programs. Only then would her apology ring true.

LOIS BLAIR -- Scotts Valley, Calif.

Gaining by Losing

Your Numbers column said John Antioco, CEO of the Blockbuster video-rental chain [April 11], received compensation of $51.6 million last year as the company lost $1.25 billion and its stock fell 47%. Would it follow that if Blockbuster had lost $5 billion, Antioco would have got $200 million? Only in the U.S. do we condone such obscene payment for bad results. Blockbuster's board of directors should be tarred and feathered by the company's stockholders.

JEFFREY WARNOCK -- Exeter, N.H.