Long live the pope!

Millions of Roman Catholics across the globe will say special prayers today to express their joy and gratitude to the Lord for bestowing upon them a great leader in the form of Pope John Paul II, who has led the church since election on Oct. 16, 1978. At the same time, however, their prayers will also reflect their worries about the health of the ailing pontiff.

At this special moment, we recall the excitement of about 20 East Timorese students during a mass celebrated by the pope on Oct. 12, 1989, in Dili. They shouted his name in a clear message that they wanted the pope to purge the territory of their sufferings.

"Viva O Papa!" they shouted, and their voices remain very relevant today. The world, not just Catholics, still needs the pope, whose strong personality, love, and faith in universal values cross all borders.

The world needs a universal leader and the pope is among the very few who has proved himself to be a figure who lends a voice to the voiceless -- the majority of the world's population.

The pope was among the strongest opponents of the invasion of Iraq. He persistently defends the rights of Palestinians to have their own state. He is likely the most frequent traveler among world leaders, having visited no less than 102 countries from his native Poland to predominantly Muslim Morocco.

When, as Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Krakow, he was elected to replace the late Pope John Paul, who died after only 33 days in office, he became the youngest pope of the 20th century and the first non-Italian pope in 455 years.

As a Catholic leader under a repressive Communist regime, it was natural that he grew to be a conservative religious leader -- a conservatism that is strongly reflected in his book Crossing the Threshold of Hope, published in 1993, in which he answered the question as to whether only Rome was always right.

"The church, as the mystical Body of Christ, penetrates and embraces all of us. The spiritual, mystical dimensions of the Church are much greater than any sociological statistics could ever possibly show," he wrote.

He led the church during the Cold War and witnessed the fall of the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe. Now the world's most dangerous enemies are poverty, injustice, the widening gap between developed and developing countries, between the poor and the rich, and oppression of the people by those who are in power. HIV/AIDS is another of his concerns, and one that is claiming most of its victims in impoverished countries.

We are also facing globalization, a process for which most developing countries are not prepared while the more industrially advanced countries are impatient to harvest its fruits. The pope stands up to defend the poor, the powerless and the abused.

This does not necessarily mean that we agree with all he has done or said, but no one doubts his courageous stance. He often has had to confront dictators, who think that they can do anything they like to their own peoples.

But the Roman Catholic Church itself is now facing complex difficulties -- from embarrassing sex scandals involving priests to complaints that the members of the church hierarchy very often act in ways that are just as bad as the temporal leaders they condemn.

There are growing complaints that the pope is often trapped by his own conservatism, as in the case of his strict stance against artificial birth control. Talk to some of the Catholic faithful and many will say that they no longer abide by the ban.

These shortcomings, however, dim in the light of his great contribution to creating a peaceful world. He still remains a living role model for millions of people across the globe, including those who do not belong to the church.

Today, we want to say to the pope: Congratulations, your holiness, and God bless you. We pray for your health. We know that you have been ill for some time now, and that your health suffered as the result of an assassination attempt by a young, right-wing Turk in 1981.

In spite of everything, millions of Catholics around the world feel they are blessed to have a spiritual leader like Pope John Paul II in these difficult times. The world still needs him, and also needs more leaders like him to emerge in the years ahead.