Catholics Remember Pope John Paul II One Year On

Sunday marked the first anniversary since Pope John Paul's death, and saw Catholics gathering outside St Peter's to commemorate him.

|PIC1|Pope Benedict delivered a special message via video link to Krakow in which he recalled John Paul's suffering, which was so evident during his final days and weeks when he was unable to speak and managed only to bless the faithful weakly with his hand.

"His illness, which he faced with courage, made us all aware of human pain, of every physical and spiritual pain; he gave suffering dignity and value, showing that man isn't just worthy for his efficiency and how he appears, but for himself because he is created and loved by God," he said.

City officials said they expected between 100,000 and 150,000 people to attend the vigil, some 10,000 of them from John Paul's native Poland, where anniversary commemorations were also held Sunday.

One group of Poles from a town near Krakow held aloft a huge red and white banner that read "John Paul the Great Santo Subito" -- a reference to the banners that filled St. Peter's Square during the pope's April 8th funeral calling for him to be canonised immediately.

John Paul was remembered from Mexico City to India as an advocate for the poor who helped fell communism. Around the world, Roman Catholics praised his legacy and called for his beatification.

|TOP|Tens of thousands filled Mexico City's Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the most important Catholic shrine in the Americas.

Many of the faithful used mirrors to reflect the morning sun to the heavens as a way of sending the late pope their love. Others carried framed photographs covered in ribbons. One group held a banner reading "Juan Pablo II, God's athlete."

John Paul visited Mexico five times and was received by wildly enthusiastic crowds on each occasion. He called the country: "Mexico, ever faithful."

At a morning Mass in Lagiewniki, Poland, near Krakow, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, John Paul's longtime personal secretary, delivered a homily dedicated to John Paul's swift beatification and sainthood.

"He contributed to the fundamental transformation of the world," said Dziwisz, now the archbishop of Krakow.
Poles credit John Paul with inspiring the pro-democracy Solidarity movement in the 1980s, which sparked protests that helped bring down the communist regime in 1989.

|AD|In India, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the archbishop of Washington, and Sister Nirmala, the successor of Mother Teresa, joined thousands of Indians who paid tribute to John Paul, describing him as an embodiment of peace.

During Sunday night's vigil in Rome, selections from John Paul's writings -- his poetry, books and homilies -- were read out to the faithful, interspersed with prayers, Gospel readings and hymns. The scene recalled that of a year ago, when hundreds of thousands of pilgrims prayed underneath the papal apartment windows.

Giovanni and Graziela Breda of Rome and their five children aged 4 to 18 were among the faithful who had staked out spots on the piazza's cobblestones to gaze up at the Apostolic Palace where John Paul died.

"It's a matter of respect to come here to pray for him," Graziela Breda said. "It's a happy day, because he is still with us, sees our needs and desires and what is missing in our lives, and is even closer to us now."

During the noontime prayer, Pope Benedict said John Paul would be remembered for one of his first messages, delivered in St. Peter's on October 22, 1978, days after he was elected pope. During that message, John Paul told the faithful: "Open, indeed, throw open wide the doors to Christ!"






Peninnah Gathoni
Christian Today Correspondent