It's hard to believe that it's 4 years since the passing of Pope John Paul II. I was in pilgrimage in Lourdes during the last week of his life, and happened to be returning to studies in Rome with a fellow seminarian on the last day of his life. Getting from Lourdes to Rome involved a couple of flights, and at each stop-over my colleague and I anxiously sought news of the Pope's condition. He was still alive when we landed in Rome, but as we reached the door of our residence the church bells of Rome began to toll. The only Pope we ever knew, that grandfatherly presence, that great man had passed from this life.
The next couple of weeks were to be unforgettable - the whole world gathering in Rome to pay their last respects, the hours of queuing in order to pay a final tribute to his remains, the memorable homily of Cardinal Connell who offered a requiem Mass for the Pope in the presence of Rome's Irish community and the almost unbearable sense of emptiness during the Eucharistic Prayer when the Christians of Rome had neither Pope nor bishop to pray for.
Curiously, the most eloquent tributes paid to the pontiff were drawn by the cartoonists of the world. Some of these sketches captured the mission of the Pope and the unique charism of John Paul II better than newspaper editorials and lengthy obituaries.
Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dilis.
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