HotmailDignified appreciation for moral icon
Spontaneous applause showed love and affection
 | The crowd for Pope John Paul II's funeral filled St. Peter's Square at the Vatican and overflowed into surrounding streets. |
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Jim Maceda Correspondent |
VATICAN CITY - From the main artery leading into St. Peter’s Square looking down toward the basilica, the mostly red and white Polish flags looked like a “river of humanity.”
Watching Pope John Paul's funeral, with hundreds upon hundreds of Polish pilgrims who were still flooding into the city minutes before the ceremony started, was a real privilege.
The celebration of the pope’s life was so festive, that at times it was almost un-funeral-like.
It was just amazing because all of these people were just so exhausted – both physically and emotionally — especially after the long trip here and after waiting on line to see the pope lying in state.
But most were still in shock when the reality sunk in that their liberator was gone. Many Poles don’t see John Paul only as the leader of the church, but as the liberator of their country. When the fact that this liberator was really dead hit them, there were some very strong emotional reactions; some people even fainted.
I was watching the festivities on a huge TV screen, one of 27 around town, and one of six that was right on that boulevard leading into the square. It was great because every time the image of the coffin appeared on these big screens, there would be spontaneous applause. There would be applause and then cheeringm, right in the middle of the homily, if you can believe it.
During Cardinal Ratzinger’s homily, as he was ticking off all of the positive points about John Paul’s career from working class roots, through working in a quarry, through being leader of the Catholic Church, with every positive biographical point mentioned, there was cheering, “John Paul! John Paul!”
Pilgrims' tribute
I felt like I got to know many of the other pilgrims after standing in line with them for hours on Wednesday night into Thursday morning waiting to pay respects to the pope.
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Moving at about 200 yards an hour, you have time to talk and exchange ideas and listen. There is no question that after 13 hours, I had a very good feeling for why John Paul was so attractive as a person, a concept, as well as a reality to so many different people.
My line-mate, Bill Wakefield, 59, from Devils Lake, N.D., felt so committed and obliged to come to be a part of this funeral that he spent $6,000 on two tickets, one for himself and one for his friend Wilson, to fly here.
It took them 28 hours to fly from Devil’s Lake to Rome, via Minnesota and Amsterdam. They got to Rome and immediately jumped in a cab to head straight to the line at the Vatican. The funny thing is that as they jumped out of the cab at the end of the viewing line, he immediately lost his friend, Wilson. They got out on different sides of the cab and lost each other in the crowd.
Every single person I spoke to on that line, and I spoke to dozens, had similar reasons for coming.
It was not necessarily because they were devout Christians or Catholics, but because they believed that the pope was a moral icon. Everyone believed that he was a benchmark for the world, a benchmark for youth, and they wanted to come celebrate and acknowledge that.
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