On Sunday morning, I got a couple of text messages saying that Pope John Paul II had passed away. It was indeed very sad news. On TV, there were messages from all leaders all over the world mourning the death of the Pope. And then it struck me – Pope John Paul II has been the Pope for as long as I can remember (I guess he became Pope when I was only 3 years old and well I can only recall a scant few things that happened to me at that age).
So I guess just as a tribute to Pope John Paul II, I will write about the two times I have seen him in person. The first was during World Youth Day way back in 1995 when the Pope visited the Philippines. Anna, Iona, and I (and I think Anna’s cousin or friend, I can’t recall right now) stayed overnight at just outside Manila Hotel to join the vigil along with thousands of other people who were camped out there waiting for the Pope’s arrival in Quirino Grandstand. There was a great sense of hope and sharing over there that night. And when the Pope arrived there was just such great joy in the atmosphere. I even remember passing in front of us, maybe about 20 feet away (although it felt a lot closer than that) and the sight of the Pope that close to us made our hearts soar.
The second time I saw him was on Christmas Day in 2002. At that time, I was on EBT in Brussels and so I decided to bring my mom to Belgium so we could take a mini-tour of Europe during Christmas break. Naturally, we made sure we were in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican to hear Christmas mass. After the mass, my mom and I saw that people were still congregated in the Square, so we decided to linger about right next to the entrance of the church. It turns out that the Pope was going to address the people after the Christmas mass – you know, the one where he says “Merry Christmas” in 70 languages. Right after his address, he got on his Pope mobile which actually passed right in front of us and he was literally a couple of meters away.
Goodbye, Pope John Paul II. You will be missed.
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