Henry (1961) established the view that with age comes a gradual disengagement with activity, society, and cognition consistent with mature acceptance of death. Only in his very last days does John Paul seem to have made a project of disengagement within the theoretical meaning of the term, and only because the physical organism declined so markedly.
Decrement Model. Even though much gerontology theory has to do with decline and fall (Nachreiner & Haeneke, 1992), John Paul's reign was marked by continued activity until it became physically impossible for him to continue. Decline that did occur was partly due to Parkinson's disease, a wasting condition, but his travel schedule remained active until two years before his death (Woodward, 2005). John Paul was cognitively active even in the final years of the papacy with doctrinal issues. He preached against the "culture of death," which he linked to sexual freedom in general and reproductive choice in particular (John Paul, 1999). The notorious sex-abuse scandal that developed a life of its own in the late 1
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