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Saturday, April 2, 2005
Standing-room-only at Norcross church
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The always well-attended Spanish-language mass at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Norcross drew a standing-room-only crowd at sunset Saturday. More than 600 people crammed into the stone sanctuary to hear Father Abe Guerrero. Many stopped near the entrance to make the sign of the cross in front of a white-framed photo of the Pope flanked by wicker baskets of flowers.
Maria Morales, of Lawrenceville, said a wave of peacefulness washed over her upon learning of the Pope’s death while dining with her husband at a Doraville restaurant. It was the same feeling she had when watching the Pope ride down a thoroughfare in her native Cali, Colombia in 1986.
“He was waving at everybody,” Morales recalled. “He gave off a peacefulness so marvelous, so nice. It was very special.”
Morales noted that Pope John Paul II had embraced Latin America through frequent visits, particularly to Mexico.
“Let’s not forget how he beatified Juan Diego,” Morales said, referring to the Indian said to have seen the Virgin of Guadeloupe in 1531. Pope John Paul II both beatified and canonized Juan Diego during trips to Mexico.
Belarmina Arriola, of Norcross, said she had planned to relax between her two Saturday shifts cleaning office buildings. But after learning of the Pope’s death, the El Salvador native said she decided to put on her church best and pay homage to the pontiff before returning to work at 9 p.m.
“I’m glad his suffering is over,” she said. “He was such a beautiful man.”
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Notre Dame Cathedral’s bells toll
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In Paris, the bells of Notre Dame Cathedral rang out individually 84 times in homage to the late Pope John Paul II — once for each year of his life.
The cathedral in the heart of Paris stayed open through the night for prayers. More than 3,000 worshippers crammed inside, with 1,000 others gathered outside as the towering cathedral’s bells sounded over the French capital.
A giant portrait of John Paul, showing him holding a staff, was hung from the middle of Notre Dame. Mass was said, and worshippers knelt in prayer.
French President Jacques Chirac, in a statement after the pope’s death, said the pontiff ”touched spirits and hearts” with his courage and determination. ”An enlightened and inspired priest, he devoted himself to responding to the search for sense and the thirst for justice that is expressed today on all continents,” Chirac said.
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Condolences from Arab League
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Arab League expressed sorrow Saturday for the pope’s death, calling him a man of peace who encouraged dialogue between nations and religions.
”This is a sad day, we are very sad to lose him,” said Hesham Youssef, a spokesman for the secretary general of the league, a group widely seen as a mouthpiece for the Arab world. ”We will never forget his noble stance in support of the oppressed people, including the Palestinians,” Youssef said.
Sulaiman Awad, a spokesman for Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak said ”Egypt received the news (of the pontiff’s death) with deep sadness.” He said Egypt would send a high-level delegation to the pontiff’s funeral.
The Polish-born pontiff, who became history’s most-traveled pope, visited several Arab countries including Egypt, Lebanon and Syria during his 25 year- reign, in addition to being the first pope to visit a mosque.
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Grief, tears in pontiff’s hometown
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The people in Pope John Paul II’s Polish hometown of Wadowice fell to their knees and wept Saturday as news of his death reached them at the end of a special Mass in the church where he worshipped as a boy.
”His life has come to an end. Our great countryman has died,” parish priest the Rev. Jakub Gil told worshippers.
In Warsaw, church bells rang and traffic halted. At Pilsudski Square, the former Victory Square where he conducted a mass in 1979 in then-communist Poland, people laid flowers in the form of a cross. Others walked to church holding candles.
The pope was deeply loved in mainly Roman Catholic Poland, where his 26-year pontificate served as a source of national pride. Gratitude remains strong for his role in helping topple communism and free Poland from Soviet domination.
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Pope’s body will go to basilica Monday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Pope John Paul II’s body was expected to be brought to St. Peter’s Basilica sometime late Monday, the Vatican said Sunday.
A Vatican statement said the pope’s body would not be brought to St. Peter’s before Monday afternoon. The statement did not give a precise cause of the pope’s death Saturday night.
The statement said the College of Cardinals would meet at 10 a.m. Monday in its first gathering before a secret election to be held later this month to choose a successor to John Paul.
The cardinals were expected to set a date for his funeral.
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Atlanta Catholics drape church doors in black
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Nowhere was the pain of the pope’s death felt more deeply and personally than among metro Atlanta’s Polish Catholics.
Andrzej Wor, a Polish native who resides now in Duluth, said the impact was “like losing a part of our family.”
His wife Teresa made a habit of sending cards to Pope John Paul II on birthdays and holy days, he said. She now has a collection of thank you notes signed by the pope which she prizes very highly, he said.
Shortly after the Pope’s death, the offices of the Atlanta archdiocese sent a letter out to all churches, suggesting that the doors to all churches be draped in black.
Rev. Brendan Doyle, pastor of St. Marguerite D’Youville Church in Lawrenceville, said he had only a short time to put up the drape, since he finished a wedding at about 4 p.m. and he had to prepare for a mass at 5:30.
Doyle said John Paul II will be remembered as a Pope of great achievement. “It was phenomenal what the man accomplished,” Doyle said.
Rev. Ed Thein, pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church in East Cobb, said John Paul II “provided a clear voice in a world of conflicting values.”
Before his papacy, there was an “anything goes” spirit in both the spiritual and secular worlds, Thein said. And though some viewed John Paul II as being conservative almost to the point of being reactionary, Thein said he actually preserved the spirit of Vatican II, the council on reform of the Catholic church held in the early 1960s.
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Archbishop recalls pope’s humor, concern
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The pope “always exhibited a pastor’s concern for the flock,” Atlanta Archbishop Wilton Gregory said at a Saturday news conference.
Gregory, who as the bishop of Belleville, Ill., headed the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops during a national priest sex abuse crisis, said the pope gave him “rapt attention” when they met to discuss the scandal.
“He asked me, ‘How are the priests? How are the people?’” Gregory said. “He strengthened me by his complete concern.”
The pope also exhibited his famous sense of humor, Gregory said, greeting the head of the bishops conference with, “Ah, Bishop Gregoroy, president of the United States,” then laughing richly.
“For more than 26 years his was a voice of constancy and clarity,” Gregory said. “He cared for the church of Christ with great zeal and compassion.”
But, the archbishop said, John Paul II never hedged on his beliefs. “He taught clearly, forcefully and consistently,” Gregory said. “He taught the truth in season and out of season. He was not a teacher who felt that his teaching had to be politically correct.”
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Somber remembrances at U.S. churches
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Quietly at home, or with heads bowed in church, Americans marked the death Saturday of Pope John Paul II, recalling him as a great leader who combined warmth with moral power, a call to care for the poor with an emphasis on liberty.
Bells tolled at Roman Catholic churches across the nation, as they did at the Vatican and around the world. Religious leaders of all faiths spoke out to honor him, as did political leaders. Flags were lowered to half-staff.
”We will always remember the humble, wise and fearless priest who became one of history’s great moral leaders,” said President Bush, who singled out John Paul’s praise for America’s Constitution. ”All popes belong to the world, but Americans had special reasons to love the man from Krakow.”
Many mourners reflected on John Paul’s long suffering and graceful acceptance of death. Others looked to the Polish-born pope’s clear-voiced denunciation of communism. And others remembered his conservative church doctrine, some gratefully and others not.
In downtown Boston, a sign posted on the door at the St. Anthony Shrine announced his death.
”I think his journey through suffering is complete. I’m proud, as a Catholic, of the way he died. He was a model of how to die with dignity,” said Christine Hall, a 25-year-old teacher co
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Bush: World loses ‘champion of human freedom’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
President Bush led the nation in mourning Pope John Paul II on Saturday, saying ”a good and faithful servant of God has been called home.”
”The Catholic Church has lost its shepherd. The world has lost a champion of human freedom,” the president said in a brief televised statement from the White House.
The pope, who died at his Vatican apartment at 2:37 p.m. EST, ”left the throne of St. Peter in the same way he ascended to it — as a witness to the dignity of human life,” Bush said.
The president said the first Polish pontiff in history ”launched a democratic revolution that swept Eastern Europe and changed the course of history.”
”Throughout the West, John Paul’s witness reminded us of our obligation to build a culture of life in which the strong protect the weak,” a somber Bush said.
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Bush will address nation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
President Bush called Pope John Paul II ”an inspiration to us all” on Saturday and reacted to the pontiff’s death by immediately ordering that the flags over the White House fly at half-staff.
Bush planned to speak at the White House not even 90 minutes after the death of the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. The pope died at 2:37 p.m. EST in his Vatican apartment.
Hours earlier, in his weekly radio address, Bush spoke of John Paul as ”a faithful servant of God and a champion of human dignity and freedom.”
”He is an inspiration to us all,” the president said. ”Laura and I join millions of Americans and so many around the world who are praying for the Holy Father.”
Bush had gotten regular briefings about the pontiff’s condition since his health began deteriorating Thursday. On Saturday, Bush was in the Oval Office before 7 a.m. EST, receiving his usual national security and intelligence briefings along with updates on the pope from senior aides, spokesman Ken Lisaius said.
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Thousands of pilgrims converge on Rome
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Preparations began Saturday for the elaborate rituals marking a pope’s death, and officials scrambled to accommodate the tens of thousands of pilgrims converging on Rome as Pope John Paul II’s health deteriorates.
Workmen in lift rucks dismantled the canopy that normally stands on the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica to shield the pope from the sun during outdoor Mass. A workman told The Associated Press the space was being cleared for the pontiff’s funeral.
The city of Rome, meanwhile, began making plans to put up tens of thousands of pilgrims expected to descend on the city in the coming days.
Portable toilets and extra ambulances appeared in greater numbers near the Vatican on Saturday and the city transport system said it was increasing service on bus and subway lines which stop at St. Peter’s.
City officials also lined up fairground pavilions and sport stadiums to house the faithful, and the Italian state railway said it would add additional trains to bring pilgrims to Rome.
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Bush: Pope an ‘inspiration to us all’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
President Bush on Saturday said Pope John Paul II has been ”a faithful servant of God and a champion of human dignity and freedom.”
”He is an inspiration to us all,” Bush said in his weekly radio address. ”Laura and I join millions of Americans and so many around the world who are praying for the Holy Father.”
The president has received regular briefings about the pontiff’s condition since the pope’s health began deteriorating Thursday. The Vatican, describing the pope’s health status as ”very grave,” said he showed the first signs of losing consciousness at dawn on Saturday.
Bush, who was spending the weekend at the White House, was in the Oval Office before 7 a.m. EST Saturday. In addition to getting his usual national security and intelligence briefings, Bush was getting updates on the pope from senior aides, spokesman Ken Lisaius said.
Bush normally tapes his radio address on Friday for its broadcast Saturday morning. He rarely delivers them live.
This time, the wait for developments out of Rome had the president holding off until shortly before the broadcast to tape the address in which he mentioned the pope.
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