|
Monday, April 04, 2005
So long, Karol
VATICAN CITY—Finally at rest after years of debilitating disease, Pope John Paul II’s body lay in state Sunday in the Apostolic Palace.
The world mourned his passing and the Vatican prepared for the ritual-filled funeral and conclave that will elect his successor.
An estimated 100,000 people turned out for a morning mass. Thousands more—-tourists, Romans, young and old—-kept coming throughout the day, a sea of humanity filling the broad boulevard leading to St. Peter’s Basilica.
They clutched rosaries and newspaper photos of John Paul as they stood shoulder-to-shoulder to pray for the soul of “our beloved John Paul.”
In Manila, where Catholics woke up to the news that the pope had died at 3:37 a.m. local time, many were moved to tears and filled churches to offer him prayers.
“Our people received the news of his death with a deep sense of grief and loss. He was a holy champion of the Filipino family,” President Arroyo said in a statement.
“The world will miss a great spiritual bridge among all nations that he touched and blessed with his gentle hand. The weak and oppressed will always remember their hero and advocate who sowed peace and love,” she said.
84 trees
President Arroyo declared a national period of mourning, urging government offices to put flags at half-staff.
Fr. Robert Reyes led environmental activists in planting 84 tree seedlings—one for each year of the pope’s life—at a small Manila park to be named after the pontiff.
“Today, while we weep for the departure of the pope who left us, we open our hearts to the vision of our eternal destiny,” Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican’s No. 2 official, said in his homily.
“For a quarter century, he brought the Gospel of Christian hope to all the piazzas of the world, teaching all of us that our death is nothing but the passage toward the homeland in the sky,” he said.
Bells tolled and pilgrims wept in remembrance of the Polish-born pope, who reigned for longer than all but two of his predecessors. He was credited with helping bring down communism in Europe and spreading a message of peace around the world.
Reaching out
The Vatican said the pontiff died at 9:37 p.m. Saturday (3:37 a.m. Philippine time) of septic shock and cardio-circulatory collapse. He was 84.
The mourning began with an overnight vigil in St. Peter’s Square, after the world learned of the death of the pontiff in his studio apartment.
“John Paul held his hand out to us young people,” said 21-year-old Alessio Bussolotti, who drove to Rome on Sunday morning with his fellow Boy Scouts from the Italian city of Ancona. “Now we have to give him ours.”
The written text of Sodano’s homily called the late pope “John Paul the Great,” a title usually designated for popes worthy of sainthood, such as Gregory the Great and Leo the Great. Sodano did not use the title when he delivered the homily, and there was no explanation.
Vatican texts, however, are considered official texts even if they are not pronounced.
Once the Mass ended, cardinals, prelates, Italian government officials and diplomats gathered in the frescoed Sala Clementina of the Apostolic Palace, where John Paul’s body lay in state.
Public viewing
Images of the ceremony, beamed around the world on television, gave the world their first look at the pope since he had died.
John Paul was dressed in crimson vestments and white bishop’s miter on his head. His crossed hands clutched a rosary, and his pastoral staff was tucked under his left arm.
John Paul’s body was to be transferred from the Apostolic Palace to St. Peter’s Basilica for public viewing on Monday afternoon.
Also Monday, the first preparatory meeting of the College of Cardinals—-the red-capped “princes of the church” who now officially govern the one-billion-strong Roman Catholic Church—-was scheduled to take place.
This is not the conclave to elect the pope, but rather a series of preparatory meetings that will decide dates for when the conclave will begin and the rites surrounding John Paul’s funeral and burial.
The Vatican said the funeral was expected between Wednesday and Friday. The conclave must begin between 15 and 20 days from the pope’s death.
Challenges
On the sidelines of these meetings, cardinals will certainly be sizing each other up as possible “papabili,” or having the qualities to be the next pope.
Cardinal Bernard Panafieu, one of five French prelates who can vote, said he was hoping for someone “who dynamizes the people as John Paul II did. At the same time, a man who has an international sense, of the opening of Catholicism to the world. An open man and at the same time, a man faithful to the great traditions of the church.”
Halfway around the world, Malou Mendoza wept as she prayed in Manila, saying she was grieving but also felt relieved.
“I’m sad because he is one of the greatest rulers of the church,” she said. “But at the same time, I am relieved that he is no longer in pain.” (AP)
(April 4, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here.
|
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
Arroyo sets period of national mourning