18th May 1920 Karol Wojtyla was born in Wadowice Poland. He would be elected as Pope John Paul II in 1978, and is now canonised. This made me think back to September 1990 and our first September Pilgrimage.
It all started because an elderly parishioner in my former parish of St Francis in Ely, Cardiff, said that he would like to see the Pope befofe he died. Well, he did, in the Audience Hall of the Vatican. I told the folks to line up against the rail down the middle aisle becaue I knew the Pope would walk along there, and that's what he did. The Pope saw our group and came to ask me where we were from as I took his hand. He was not as tall as I thought he would be, but strongly built with a wonderful caring and wise smile. He made you feel that the world was a little better, that God was a little closer. After I told him we were from Cardiff, Bernard, the chap who'd wanted to meet him said he was from Ely, while his mate Joe said he was from Heol-y-Castell, as if the Holy Father was familiar with the streets of Ely! Well, indeed, that's how John Paul made you feel.
St John Paul II pray for us, our Church and our world.
Will forever be grateful to St John Paul for establishing the World Youth Day - went with the diocese to Cologne in 2005 which was Pope Benedict's first overseas journey, and had a wonderful time. St John Paul, pray for us
ReplyDelete