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Pope John Paul II was a true believer, a courageous voice of truth and a man whose witness to the faith grew more eloquent as his ability to speak declined, Pope Benedict XVI and others who worked closely with the late pope said at events for his beatification.
“John Paul II is blessed because of his faith — a strong, generous and apostolic faith,” Pope Benedict said May 1 just minutes after formally beatifying his predecessor.
In the beatification proclamation, Pope Benedict said that after a consultation with many bishops and faithful and a study by the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, he had decided that “the venerable servant of God, John Paul II, pope, henceforth will be called blessed” and his feast will be Oct. 22, the anniversary of the inauguration of his pontificate in 1978.
Italian police said that for the beatification Mass more than 1 million people were gathered in and around the Vatican and in front of large video screens in several parts of Rome. The next morning 60,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square for a Mass in thanksgiving for the beatification.
Around the world, Catholics celebrated the beatification with Masses, prayer services and special events honoring Blessed John Paul.
Cardinal Egan, archbishop emeritus of the archdiocese, celebrated a Mass in thanksgiving for the beatification in St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
The cardinal, who was assigned to Vatican posts in the 1970s and 1980s, said he got to know Pope John Paul “very well” during that time.
He spoke of the pope’s capacity for forgiveness—including his forgiveness of the Turkish gunman who shot him in a 1981 assassination attempt—and his strength in standing up to the “great evils of his time,” including Communism, Nazism and the excesses of capitalism.
Cardinal Egan also told a story to the congregation of visiting the Holy Father shortly after Pope John Paul appointed him Archbishop of New York in 2000. He said the pope questioned him about the number of parishes, priests and religious in the archdiocese, then-Archbishop Egan admitted that he did not know the precise numbers.
He said the pope told him not to worry because “the Holy Father is going to be praying for you.”
“I have no doubt that he did,” the cardinal said. Then, looking up toward heaven, he said, “Holy Father, thank you for your prayers.”
The congregation applauded.
In remarks to the media after the Mass, Cardinal Egan said, “I can assure you, millions of Catholics have no doubt he belongs among the blessed.”
Recalling the crowds that gathered in St. Peter’s Square cheering and holding signs that read “Santo Subito!” (Sainthood Now!), he said, “I think they’ve thought of him as a saint from the day of the funeral.”
At Holy Family Church, which serves the United Nations community in Manhattan, Archbishop Francis A. Chullikatt, the Vatican’s U.N. nuncio, was principal celebrant of the main Mass where Blessed Pope John Paul was honored.
He recalled John Paul’s first words after his election as pope in 1978, which exhorted the faithful to “Be not afraid.”
The pope wanted Catholics to “let the world know you are Christian,” and be open and proud of your faith, Archbishop Chullikatt said.
Among other tributes to the Polish-born pope in New York May 1 was an afternoon Spanish-language Mass celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Josu Iriondo, vicar for Hispanic Affairs, and a concert of Polish music and a reading of Pope John Paul II’s poetry at St. Patrick’s Cathedral at an evening event sponsored by the Consul General of Poland and the cathedral.
In Rome, the official celebrations began with a nighttime prayer vigil April 30 at the Circus Maximus, site of the ancient Roman racetrack.
The crowd—estimated at about 200,000 people—cheered French Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, whose cure from Parkinson’s disease was accepted as the miracle that paved the way for Pope John Paul’s beatification. The nun beamed as she recounted her unexpected healing.
She said when she was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2001 at age 40, she found it difficult to watch Pope John Paul, who suffered from the same disease. “I saw in him the image of my illness. But I admired his strength and courage,” she said.
Two months after the pope died, her condition worsened. Then, after prayers to the late pope, she awoke early one morning feeling well rested.
“I felt something had changed in me, and I was healed,” she said. The crowd in the Circus Maximus erupted in applause.
Many others in the crowds for the events also had personal stories about Pope John Paul. Likewise, Pope Benedict ended his homily at the beatification Mass sharing his own personal story.
“I would like to thank God for the gift of having worked for many years with Blessed Pope John Paul II,” he said.
As prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1982 until his election in 2005, Pope Benedict said he worked at the pope’s side “and came to revere him.”
“His example of prayer continually impressed and edified me: he remained deeply united to God even amid the many demands of his ministry,” the pope said.
Pope Benedict said that even at the moment of his death people “perceived the fragrance of his sanctity and in any number of ways God’s people showed their veneration for him. For this reason, with all due respect for the Church’s canonical norms, I wanted his cause of beatification to move forward with reasonable haste.”
After the Mass, Pope Benedict went into St. Peter’s Basilica and knelt in prayer for four minutes before Blessed John Paul’s casket, which was set in front of the main altar. After the pope left, the concelebrating cardinals filed up to the wooden casket, touching it lightly and kissing it.
Later, the Vatican opened the basilica to the general public and kept it open until 3 a.m. Vatican police said 250,000 people filed past the casket or knelt in prayer near it in those first 13 hours. The basilica was opened again after the thanksgiving Mass May 2 so more people could pay their respects.
During the beatification Mass May 1, a silver reliquary containing a vial of Blessed John Paul’s blood was carried up to the altar by Polish Sister Tobiana Sobodka, who ran Pope John Paul’s household, and by Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, who was cured of Parkinson’s disease.
The reliquary, a sculpture of olive branches, also was carried in procession to the altar at the thanksgiving Mass.
While the biggest groups of pilgrims at the beatification events came from Italy and Poland, more than 80 countries sent official delegations and most of them had at least a few pilgrims present as well.
Isabel Marin, 16, said she and her two friends from Madrid, Spain, stayed on the street all night. She had a brand new air mattress, but didn’t have room to unroll it.
Although she was only 10 when Pope John Paul died, Marin said, “our parents have told us a lot about him and told us this was a great opportunity to grow our faith.”
“Pope John Paul was a wonderful pope. He was like us. My mom showed me a video where he was watching a clown and really laughing. And I saw another video where he moved his feet when the people were singing, following the beat,” she said.
Catholic News Service and John Woods contributed to this article.
