My Only Pope

a year before i was born, a cardinal from poland became pope - 450 years after any non-italian cardinal ever held on the papacy. born karol jozef wojtyla, he became a soldier in ww1 and later entered priesthood.

growing up, he was the pope i knew and recognised. i would see him talking in the vatican, vaguely remember him meeting up with world leaders and religious icons of his and my time. pretty much i became comfort with the idea that i was going to live and die with him as my pope. and of course, i was dreaming. because by the time he became pope, JP2 (a coined term for his eminence) was in his 60s.

his reign as pope has got to be the most tumultuous of modern day pontiffs, with assasination plots here and there, the fall of communism, and the variety of issues that the Church went through, particularly in the case of child molestation cases that were flung unto the priesthood.

but he stood steadfast. and although i was not able to see him personally during the world youth day celebration in manila during the late 90s, i fervently watched him on TV, him riding a bullet-proof car with clear window panels, waving to the crowd. everyone was just ecstatic. and i was crying in front of the TV. he was my pope, and every day, he made everyone in the catholic faith that he too was man - and that God was there to listen to man, regardless of how insiduous and maniacal he becomes at times. JP2 was a man of God, and a man of love.

in 2005, JP2 died. the media coverage was insane. practically everyone paid respects to the man they called the communicator, having been the most travelled and most known of all modernday popes by all walks of life. he showed love by example, and peace through a lifestyle, and holiness that was not skin deep or anchored on societal requisites.

HE MADE ME UNDERSTAND THAT GOD WILL ALWAYS BE THERE FOR ME, AND FOR YOU, NO MATTER HOW DUMBASS WE GET OR HOW INAPPROPRIATE ARE ACTIONS ARE. because God is not vengeful. God is love.

He does not judge, unlike most people we know.

***

AN EXCERPT FROM XINMSN.COM

Thousands of pilgrims thronged Rome on Saturday amid tight security, on the eve of a grand ceremony that the Vatican called a "Feast of Faith" to bring late pope John Paul II close to sainthood.

"May this feast of faith be a precious occasion to open the door to Christ," Pope Benedict XVI, who will president Sunday's ceremony, wrote in a message to Catholics around the world on the front page of the official Vatican newspaper. In an editorial, the Osservatore Romano daily called it "an extraordinary event without precedent in the last 1,000 years of the Church's history."

Excitement also began mounting among the crowds of faithful milling around the Vatican despite a persistent drizzle and the ubiquitous souvenir peddlers.

"I couldn't miss this, I had to be a part of such a historic moment. We've only just arrived but the atmosphere's great, it's really exciting," said Patricia Wocial, 48, who had come from Britain with her young daughters. The weekend of prayer, which experts say could help the Vatican burnish an image badly tarnished by paedophile priest scandals, will kick off later on Saturday with a vigil in the ancient Roman arena Circus Maximus.

At least 100,000 people are expected to attend the vigil starting at 1800 GMT on Saturday to hear those who were close to John Paul II speak, including his former personal secretary, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz. Timetable: Pope John Paul II's beatification

Among the speakers will be Marie Simon-Pierre, the French nun whose miraculous healing from Parkinson's disease is the official justification for John Paul II's beatification after years of research by the Vatican. A second miracle is needed before John Paul II can be declared a saint.

While some pilgrims will then head off to bed before Sunday's beatification mass starting at 0800 GMT, others will take advantage of several churches in central Rome which are staying open all night to pray to the late pope. Some 500,000 pilgrims are expected for the beatification itself, which will confer the status of "blessed" on a pope who survived an assassination attempt and helped fight Communist rule during his nearly 27 years in office. John Paul became pope in 1978 -- the first non-Italian pope in more than four centuries. After 104 foreign trips and a pontificate that gave new strength to the Catholic Church, he died in 2005 following years of ill health.

The late pope's coffin has been brought out of its resting place in a crypt under Saint Peter's basilica, and a phial of John Paul's blood, drawn from him during his illness, has been prepared as a relic for veneration. The Vatican fast-tracked the beatification period after mourners at John Paul's funeral clamoured for him to be made a saint, drowning out critics who accused him of having ignored Church ills such as corruption and paedophilia.

One of the Vatican's fiercest critics, German theologian Hans Kung, said in an interview with La Repubblica daily that his reign was "authoritarian" adding: "He doesn't deserve to be presented to the faithful as an example." After Sunday's beatification mass, which will be led by Pope Benedict in front of Saint Peter's and shown on big screens in the surrounding area, pilgrims will be able to file past John Paul II's coffin in the basilica.

Among the attendees at the mass will be Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski -- part of a large Polish delegation for the late Karol Wojtyla. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, a liberation hero who has been widely condemned for human rights abuses, also landed in Rome on Saturday under a special exemption from a European Union travel ban to attend the ceremony.

***

so do i believe JP2 should eventually be canonized as a saint?i don't need to.
in my heart, my soul, he already is.