he* may be next…

www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-obit-hinckley,1,3707280.story

Mormon Church President Dies at 97
By JENNIFER DOBNER

Associated Press Writer

10:17 PM CST, January 27, 2008

SALT LAKE CITY

Gordon B. Hinckley, the longest-serving president of the Mormon church who presided over one of the greatest periods of expansion in its history, died Sunday, a church spokesman said. He was 97.

Hinckley, the 15th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died because of complications from age and was surrounded by his family.

Hinckley, a grandson of Mormon pioneers, was president for nearly 13 years. He took over as president and prophet on March 12, 1995. He oversaw one of the greatest periods of expansion in church history.

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http://cbs4.com/national/Archbishop.Christodoulos.death.2.639312.html

Greek Church Leader Christodoulos Dies At 69

ATHENS, Greece (AP) ― Greece’s Orthodox Church leader, Archbishop Christodoulos, who eased centuries of tension with the Vatican but angered liberal critics who viewed him as an attention-seeking reactionary, died Monday at his home of cancer, church officials said. He was 69.

Christodoulos, who headed the church for a decade, was first hospitalized in Athens in June before being diagnosed with cancer of the liver and large intestine.

He spent 10 weeks in a hospital in Miami but an October liver transplant operation was canceled when doctors discovered the cancer had spread. He refused hospital treatment in the final weeks of his life.

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and this one is a bit late, but I just saw it tonight…
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/30/africa/AF-GEN-Senegal-Obit-Mbacke.php

Senegal plunged into mourning after death of religious leader

The Associated Press
Sunday, December 30, 2007
TOUBA, Senegal: Chanting Quranic verses, hundreds of thousands of mourners flocked to this holy city Sunday to visit the burial site of Senegal’s late spiritual leader and to pay tribute to a man who led the most powerful Muslim brotherhood in the country.

Serigne Saliou Mbacke died Friday at the age of 92 in the central city of Touba, hometown of the 19th-century religious leader who founded the country’s so-called Mouride brotherhood more than a century ago.

Serigne Bara Falilou Mbacke, 82 � a grandson of the brotherhood’s founder, Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba � has been designated the movement’s sixth leader.

Pilgrims descended on Touba, pouring into the city in tidal wave of cars, motorcycles and buses.

Mbacke was buried in a mausoleum on the grounds of Touba’s Grand Mosque, one of Africa’s biggest, which houses the crypts of other former Mouride leaders. Women and men lined up in separate queues that stretched half a kilometer (mile) under a hot sun.

Inside, they prayed and cried at Mbacke’s tomb. Outside, crowds of faithful read Quranic verses and poems written by Bamba.

After Mbacke’s death was announced, President Abdoulaye Wade declared three days of national mourning that are due to end Monday, with flags flown at half-staff.

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* originally this was writted as referring to John Paul II…silly me, I had forgotten that the Grand Inquisitor is now filling the Shoes of the Fisherman…