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Having separated from the Catholic Church a few years ago, I was surprised I was deeply affected. But when I think about it now, I understand why. This was a man whom I looked up to and respected while I was growing up. I have this memory of having to memorize this entire song for World Youth Day when he visited the Philippines, not to mention the sign language symbols that went along with the song. His very presence and life was integral to what I believed and what I was taught. This is a sad day.

Ro, I found out an interesting piece of information today. I hadn't known that he was the first non-Italian pope in 450 years. I think I might've learned that in Christian Learning class, but that was 12 years ago. Still, had I been a Polish Catholic, I would've been even more proud.

For Rodia:




Today, Pope John Paul II died at his home in the Vatican. He was 84. As people around the world pause to remember the man who led the Catholic church into a new millennium, we remember the young Karol Wojtyla--a strapping fellow, eager to ski and kayak and hike. Here's what John Paul's life was like before he became pope.



* * * * * *
Before He Was John Paul, He Was Karol


On May 18, 1920, Karol and Emilia Wojtyla welcomed the arrival of their second son and named him Karol Jozef. The family lived in Wadowice, a small town just south of Krakow where Catholics and Jews lived side by side. When Karol was 8, he lost his mother. Three years later, his older brother also died.

Portrait of the Pope as a Young Man

Karol grew up to excel in academics and athletics. When the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, he was studying literature and philosophy in Krakow and exploring a passion for theater. After the Germans shut down his university, he saw his professors rounded up--some deported, others executed--and Poland's Jews sent off to death camps. Auschwitz was less than 50 miles away.

Karol took a job as a stonecutter, but then personal tragedy struck again: his father died in 1941. Karol Sr.'s last wish was that his son become a priest, and Karol soon began training at an underground seminary in Krakow--secretly, since the Nazis had outlawed religious study. From 1944 until the end of World War II, he had to lie low to escape the notice of the Germans, who had begun rounding up Polish men.

From these experiences, Karol became convinced that moral purity is best attained through suffering. Later in life, when addressing arguments that priestly celibacy should be relaxed, or that other dimensions of Catholic life should be made less difficult, Wojtyla would return to the idea that some things in life are supposed to be hard.

On-the-Job Training

Once Karol entered the Catholic church, his rise through the hierarchy was steady. He was ordained in 1946 and continued to study, earning doctorates in theology and philosophy. He became a bishop in 1958, archbishop in 1963, cardinal in 1967.

A priest in the Polish church faced plenty of obstacles. When the Germans were thrown out of Poland at the end of World War II, the Communists took over, and the new regime was every bit as authoritarian as the old--and even more hostile to religion. A rising star, Karol grew proficient in the difficult balancing act of resisting the government's periodic crackdowns on religion without inviting even harsher reprisals.

The great turning point in his career came at the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). The young church leader from Krakow, relatively unknown outside his native land, attracted attention by arguing forcefully that the church should explicitly condemn anti-Semitism and officially reject the view that Jews are responsible for Jesus's death.

All Roads Lead to Rome

When Pope John Paul I died in 1978 after only 34 days in office, Cardinal Wojtyla traveled to Rome to help elect a successor. On the eighth ballot, his peers elected him to lead their church. He was the first non-Italian pope in more than 400 years and the first Slavic pope ever. At age 58, he was also the youngest pope in generations.

In 1981, he was shot twice by a Turk named Mehmet Ali Agca. He recovered within months, and resumed his arduous schedule. He even went to his assailant's prison and forgave the man who tried to murder him.

Throughout his papacy, John Paul was a traveling man. In the past quarter of a century, he made more than 100 trips outside Italy. Plenty of people traveled to him, too. The Vatican estimates that 17 million pilgrims traveled to St. Peter's Basilica in Rome to see John Paul over the years. Many will return in the coming days to say goodbye.

He is gone, and I do wish him a safe trip.

This is a strange one for me. I feel not a great sadness but a great joy, not because he has left this world but because he has gone to his final rest and he is one of the few individuals I know of who has truely earned it.

John Paul II was a brillient man, and I had enormous respect for him. I do not agree with much of what he said or did, but I agree that he had to do it because it was his way. History will remember him as a great Pope, he was incredably influential and there were more Catholics alive under his reign that had existed before (It's a population growth thing).

But, I am not sad for Catholics, for Rome of for Poland. I am happy, because a great man lived and died for his faith and I truely believe that he has earned his final reward.

But for Ro, who I know is deeply upset by this, I send and and thinking of you my friend.

I left the catholic church on my 18th birthday, as the pope steered a conservative course in times when reforms where needed. The few reforms and announcements he did were necessary to save the church: had he not asked for pardon re the catholic church's crimes through the millenia, the church would have sunk into even deeper anachronism than it is today. To me, it has sunk into the past; while I value the worth of community and charity, I'm put off by the pomp and anti-modernism of modern catholicism.

I remember (see how old I am) the welcome of Albino Luciani as John Paul I., whom many greeted as a new John XXIII. after the long and dire waning years of Paul VI. John Paul II. talked to politicians, he did not submit questions of belief and religion to "private opinion", in a way, he helped paving the way to an early 3rd millenium that's formed by harder religious-ideological borders than the 1990ies were. I doubt that I am thankful for that. His approaches to the Jewish and Islamic religions were nice, but diplomatic, significant is his blockade against the protestant religions: he denied priests the right to celebrate ecumenical services with them, and even expelled some who did nonetheless.

De mortuis nihil nisi bene? He was a man of absolute moral integrity. He believed that what he did was right. So many blockheads do.

As always, when someone dies, consolate the grieving, so I want to express my conolences to Rodia and anybody who held him dear.

The following is overly long but I needed to let everything out in a more or less ordered way... I wrote it all up yesterday.

I kept my radio on when I went to the internet cafe, because it would give constant and immediate updates on John Paul II's condition, as soon as there was news. I had just started to write a reply to this thread, I wanted to say how overwhelming it was to see people so united. At that moment the classical music on the radio stopped... and you may think me cliché and overly dramatic, but I will never forget that voice, the dreadful tone, the sighing pause between the words. “John Paul II...is dead. The Vatican has just announced it.” And then a requiem. I gasped “Oh, God”, in English, I'm not sure why...I ctrl+xed what I had written so far and typed “He just died.”. And then I burst into tears. I think I saw heads turning, and I don't know if they already knew. I gathered up my things and went for the exit- the cashier gave me a nod that meant “I know.” and I was grateful for it because it made me feel less of an ass for crying. I paid, I walked out. I wanted to tell everyone I passed, the Holy Father is dead, he is dead. It's done, he is dead. I was shouted after 'Fuck, girl, don't cry!' and I was given strange looks...and I was so grateful when a woman finally stopped me and asked what the matter was. I think she knew that might be it.

I called my mother to ask her, stupidly, if it was true. Maybe I'd heard wrong... why weren't the church bells tolling? Her tone said enough and I didn't need to ask the question... we comforted each other as we could and I rushed on to the Cathedral, using up all my tissues and by the time I reached the crowds and the bells had started their toll, I had to sniff into my sleeve. The church was packed, of course, and by some strange coincidence I walked inside just as the priest asked my own patron saint, Mary Magdalen, to pray for John Paul II.

I didn't stay long. On the way there I'd texted my roomie, because I wasn't sure she knew. I couldn't write the actual words so I just wrote 'It's done.' She called me as I came out of the cathedral and said she was coming, and the others too. I waited long, and then I saw, not my roomie, but my neighbour from across the corridor. I hadn't expected to see him there, because he had enough reasons not to feel the same respect for the Pope that I did. Again some may laugh that I find it touching that the first person who hugged me and let me cry on their shoulder that night was gay.

We lost each other in the crowd quite fast, and I went home, very dizzy. Upstairs in the tv room, the weekend students lay sprawled on their chairs, rude as always, drinking beer and making light of it all, but watching television all the same. They don't show much respect but they are watching, and no one is forcing them to do so. I join them for a while because they left the door open. Looking at the tv screen makes me feel sick. The TVP logo is turned black, and there is a dark strip of text scrolling at the bottom: “The Holy Father John Paul II is dead. The Holy Father John Paul II is dead.” Over and over and over and I feel tears in my eyes again. But soon I'm laughing, because someone smart at the tv station decided that the first memories of the Pope shown would not be difficult speeches, but the lighter, happy conversations with the cheering crowds. I've seen this material before, it's from the 1999 pilgrimage to Poland. The Pope is in his home town, and he is delighting the crowd by calling out street names and talking about his youth. “After our graduation exam, we went to that bakery over there, for cream cakes.” The crowd goes wild... those cream cakes became famous after that pilgrimage, and they're called “The Pope's Cream Cakes” now. I laugh again as John Paul II gives a mischievous grimace- he is not as keen to begin the official ceremony as his cardinals. He would rather talk to the crowds. And the crowds have a stunning way of calling out replies. It's as if thousands of people all thought of the same words at the same time.

Later the radio also transmits both the important speeches, and the casual ones. The crowd hollers 'Stay with us, stay with us!” “Very nice” he answers “They're tempting me to desert the Vatican!”
Then from the beginning of his pontificate: “I have two questions for you. First of all- is it polite not to care when a citizen of your town goes missing? (crowd laughter) I've been missing for eight months and you all seem very happy about it. Now my second question. Do you all plan to go to bed? (cries of NO!)” To reporters... “I won't speak officially because we all know each other too well for that. My dear reporters. Don't ever try to catch the Pope by his tongue, because if you do, he will stick his tongue out at you.”

I laugh and laugh. My roomie laughs...we cry a little...we laugh again. He did not leave emptiness.

There are a million ways that make his death a beautiful last message. I don't know but I have to wonder, how many people were so touched this weekend that they woke up out of their 'christianity by habit'. How many people were united... how many simply realised, seeing almost all the usual city entertainment stilled, that there is such a thing in life as respect, and matters more important that comfort and fun... How many people began to listen to what he was saying for 26 years? How many decided to change something. He didn't just die... it almost seems like his whole life, he was preparing us to be woken up by his death. It was his strongest sermon.
It was said that John Paul II wished that people do their best to make peace with each other, to honour his dying. “If you are angry with someone, make peace with them today.” said the radio. Oh, the radio was fantastic. It's not even a religious station or anything, but since friday it has been devoting its time to the Pope completely. And it speaks as it should, of heaven and God. The way the reporters phrase their questions and their reports shows that they are moved like ordinary people, and that they believe the Pope is with God now. I don't think all the people on the radio are Catholic but none of them were ashamed to speak from their hearts.

Now again I might seem ridiculous, but is anything that gives comfort ever ridiculous? I opened the Bible yesterday night, randomly. I chanced upon these words (excuse the imperfect translation from Polish):
“That day Moses promised: Surely the earth on which you walk will be yours and your children's forever, because you were faithful to the Lord our God. And now look, God has kept me alive like he promised. [...] I am now eighty-five years old, but even today I am as strong as on the day when Moses sent me. As before, so today I am strong enough to fight, to walk forth or return.”
(Joshua 14,6)

Now it's evening on April 3rd. The day was peaceful, and there seemed to be more relief than grief among the people I saw on the street today. Almost all shops were closed, the huge shopping centre and the cinema where my internet cafe is, supermarkets and clubs and pubs... But the sun shone and there was a peace about... I had been afraid of a mass panic, of lamentations and loud grief that would be hard to work into the everyday... but it seems that people understand his death, as he wished us to. I feel odd, and sad, but not numbed or empty.
I feel proud, and refreshed in my faith.

I laid flowers and lit candles twice by the statue, and just over an hour ago, my roomie told me to look out of the window and see all the people marching. I grabbed the camera and raced downstairs. We followed the crowd. It was football fans from the ŁKS club, scarved, swarthy men, and women with too much make up, marching behind a car with a huge wreath attached to the bonnet. They pushed through the crowd by the cathedral to lay the wreath among the candles and pray, just as the mass started. I wasn't wearing my coat but the candles were as hot as a bonfire. The church was full and many people stayed outside, circled around the statue. Every now and then someone pushed forward to light another candle, and every few minutes a tram or a bus would pass, and the people inside would all be standing up from their seats and looking at the gathered crowd.

Now it's exactly 24 hours since John Paul II died. 21:37. In my mind I can hear again the words of the reporter, and they put a knot in my throat. I am not afraid of change...it's rather an honour to be the witness of such a historical event. We will now have to welcome the new Pope, and follow the way he sets. I hope he will be as challenging as John Paul II was. I hope he does not waste the head start, or becomes afraid of never living up to Karol Wojtyla. I hope he takes his example and acts.

John Paul II did not address certain things in the Church that most likely do need to be addressed. But I think that, as it was said many times today, he was the right Pope for the right times. He did not do some things, but he certainly did not sit idly, safely avoiding action. He went out there, and what he knew he could change, he changed. I think he laid the right foundation for his successor, and for the Church to change if it need change for the new century. He gathered us together and cemented Catholicism in tradition, in love, in respect and in action. His life's work was bringing people together, people of different races and religions. I will focus on what he did do, rather than on what he did not. I don't think it's a small feat and I think he knew just how much was enough for his time.Certainly he has raised the bar very high.

May he rest in peace.

I thought about you a lot yesterday Ro, and about everybody who's been moved by this. I work with a Polish lady called Dorota and she seemed to be walking around in a daze. She studied in Krakow, and I think she is quite devout, though she doesn't often talk about religion. It was strange. Krakow was on the news all morning, but she was here in Wells, making beds. There have been no incredible scenes of mourning here. I almost wish there had been... I think people could have used the support.

Thankyou for writing about your experience Rodia... I'm still trying to understand this.

*~Pips~*

Thanks, Pips. I'm dazed too, I think everyone is. The whole country is in official mourning until Friday, the day of the funeral. I'm still itching to go buy a ticket to Rome, but the journey would be crazy and I don't know how expensive in the end, I doubt there is room to slide a needle in Rome right now.

I bought black ribbon today for my roomie and myself. Everyone seems quieter, everyone looks like they didn't sleep for a week. When people talk it's about the Pope. All Polish web portals changed colour to greys and blacks, and the radio still plays classical music only. Candles burned in windows yesterday night.

We go on, pretty much. We just talk about God more than before, and we feel a strange responsibility, because when he left us, the Pope left us his life's work...we can either forget it and stop right here, or we can take it further. It's not just a case of waiting for the next Pope to take up the lead, John Paul II already set us on a good path and walking on is the only good way to honour him.

Rodia, I think you have said with great eloquence what Karol Wojtyla means to the Polish people and you have great reason to be proud of him. He and other Poles led the sucessful and peaceful fight that ultimately led to the fall of the Soviet Empire and thus to the spread of democracy into eastern Europe. Within the lifetime of many people it once looked as if European democracy would die. That man has seen a lot of history.
I believe social conservatism to be a burden upon the Catholic church and hope that the election of a progressive Pope will take it forward.

This installation was shown in a London exhibition in 2000. An enraged priest destroyed it very soon after the opening, but no word about it was heard from the pope himself.

There were some seventy thousand people at Mass yesterday.

Funny, I never thought a mass would give me a hangover. I'm so tired, but very very touched. There's really more hope and peace than grief.

Newsweek did a lovely commerative issue about the Pope...I got mine today.

There was a wonderful series of pictures and a good article about the Pope's 26 years and his expected legacy.

Rodia, if you'd like, I will send it to you. Let me know!

That was a beautiful picture Ro. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.

Thanks, Jewel We have a Polish edition of Newsweek since...hmmm...200something... well it's fairly recent. But I got the special edition...thanks for the offer though that's sweet of you.

We joked last night with friends that all Polish people have become experts on the Pope. It's hard not to, the radio, the newspapers, the tv, likely they will be remembering him until Friday. I've heard more anecdotes than I can remember...to a point it's a bit silly, reporters seem to be talking to everyone and their brother. The Pope's neighbours, the Pope's schoolmate, the guy who lived across the street, the tailor who once was in the shop of his uncle who sold a shirt to a nun who bought it for the Pope...



No, but I'm not mocking much, we need this. It's not a death that can be brushed off, he deserves our full attention for at least a week, and I know I've heard a lot of his words for the first time in the last couple of days.

And I'm still amazed that there is no such thing as grief alone. There is grief+love, it's like a two-in-one package... you know how I bought black ribbon? Well I was wrong, everyone wears white ribbons. It's stunning. It says little of my faith to admit this but the Pope showed me what Christ's Resurrection means better than any Easter morning could.

There was an immense national Mass yesterday in Warsaw...200 thousand people. There's another one on Friday, and there's stuff happening all over the country... people decide to light candles on streets named after John Paul II in all the cities...then there are White Marches...there's so much going on.

Hmm, White Marches were first made by the Belgians to protest against child abuse.

I expect they've been done on other occasions as well. In theory the white ribbons are supposed to be support for sick people, but colours can symbolise many things. It's all pretty much spontaneous.

Well, the funeral took place this morning.

I watched it from the Pilsudski Square along with a couple thousand other people. Fewer than in other cities, fewer than last tuesday when there were 250 thousand attending mass....but still it was something special to see people watching the transmission from the Vatican not in the comfort of their own homes, but outside, all together.

At ten am precisely, sirens began to wail all over the city. Then the mass began in Rome. Cardinal Ratzinger was...well, I didn't really know the man existed before, but he won my heart today with his amazing homily.

"We can be sure that our beloved pope is standing today at the window of the Father's house, that he sees us and blesses us. Yes, bless us, Holy Father. We entrust your dear soul to the Mother of God, your Mother, who guided you each day and who will guide you now to the eternal glory of her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."

CNN quotes the full text. The Pope had a good man at his side all those years.

When the coffin was being carried out, they killed the sound on the screens, and our army paid their respects by firing cannons 26 times. Dad said the blanks don't even come close to what the war sounded like, but my ears still ache...the ground shook...that's another new experience, enlightening experience, to add to my book...a lot of those this week.

http://serwisy.gazeta.pl/fotografie/181 ... html?str=2

Then we applauded. Like the Italian people, though it's a very foreign way to express respect for us...clapping at a funeral? But we applauded for the Pope. We said the Lord's Prayer, and sang the Pope's favourite song, the one about leaving your boat ashore and sailing out into deep waters with Jesus.

There were a couple thousand people there.
http://serwisy.gazeta.pl/fotografie/181 ... html?str=4
In Krakow, 800 thousand people gathered outside to watch the funeral on big screens, and partake in the mass.
http://bi.gazeta.pl/im/8/2644/z2644488G.jpg
People gathered everywhere.
http://serwisy.gazeta.pl/fotografie/5,3 ... 0.html?x=3

More photos here.
http://serwisy.gazeta.pl/fotografie/182 ... 44313.html

Today is friday. The period of national mourning will be over tomorrow. But in truth there was no mourning, instead, a week of much thought. A lot of people proved their worth this week...the media...the ordinary folk...the clergy...

I'm sorry I can't find perfect words to describe all of this. The best that comes to mind is that it's a VERY BIG THING THAT HAPPENED.

Rodia, thank you so very much for giving us a glimpse into your heart -- and that of your nation -- at this momentous time. It has meant more to me than any coverage I have seen or read about the pope's death.

Wampus...thank you for replying here. That also means a lot to me.
A Student White March begins at eight. I'm not going but my sister is. I have to admit- I'm surprised. I'm surprised at how much people want to celebrate him. He died on Saturday- up til Monday it was obvious that people gathered, but then they continued on all through the week. There wasn't an hour in which the news didn't talk about yet another mass, another march, another gathering, another idea...let's light candles together, sing together...

I just found out that we should all put the lights out at 21:37 today for five minutes. I'll pass it on to my friends through text message.

Thousands of Poles went to Rome for the funeral. Those were spontaneous decisions. Some went by plane, some by train (there were special trains arranged) some hitch-hiked.

It's been a week in which the whole country suddenly...hmm...decided that it wanted to be better. Of course, no one knows how much of this decision will last...but spending a week in deep reflection on life, death, and our own conscience isn't easy, and it isn't something people choose to do for pleasure. And yet people did it. No one asked them to. No one forced anyone. People just got up and did something.

I hope it lasts. I think it will. If it lasted a week in full strength, I think it's big enough to change a lot for the better.

I stayed up all night watching the live funeral coverage...Ratzinger spoke well and intelligently... he's supposedly a very smart guy and a great theologian and politician... He's a "big shot" in Vatican, head of the college of cardinals...but he's a bit controversial supposedly and thus not the predicted favourite at the conclave...he's uber-conservative... and thus not my fav guy to keep an eye on for future filling of the Papal throne...

Wednesday I went to our Polish town in Toronto and laid flowers by JPII's monument (tonnes of flowers and candles there)... popped into the church to reflect at the memorial there too. Took some photos.
Some local newspaper lady harassed me for a few words for an article...

Today I went to Polish town again.. for vigil and mass held outside by JPII's statue. It was very nice... took pictures... I will link once I get them on the compy... it was a big turnout... a lot of candles, and flowers, and Polish, Vatican and Canadian flags, all with black ribbon hung across them...Lots of Gorale (our Highlanders) in traditional costumes, singing and playing their instruments...During the liturgy they put on a lot of recordings of the Pope from his travels to Poland... the funny bits as well... that was very nice. A lot of people had tears in their eyes, but there was also hope and joy and gratefulness...