Multitudes Join Powerful for Last Goodbye to Pope

Reuters ^ | 4/8/05 | Philip Pullella and Crispian Balmer

[TexKat]

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A multitude of humanity from Poland to Paraguay pressed against each other around the Vatican on Friday, joining the powerful of the earth to say a final goodbye to Pope John Paul.

As dawn broke, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who had spent the night on the streets rushed to fill St. Peter's Square and choked all the roads around the vast basilica.

The Pope's simple wooden coffin will be carried out of St. Peter's Basilica at 10.00 a.m. (0400 EDT), the same church where more than 26 years ago Karol Wojtyla first emerged as pontiff to stun the world with his vitality and charisma.

Police struggled to hold back the pilgrims as they surged forward, desperate to get into the square. Every few minutes the barriers were opened, letting a stream of faithful charge over the cobblestones and up to the edge of the colonnaded square.

At least 2 million faithful will join four kings, five queens and at least 70 presidents and prime ministers who will pay their respects at the three-hour funeral mass.

Many others will watch the service on giant television screens spread around the city, pictures that will be broadcast to a potential world audience of billions.

The Polish Pontiff died on Saturday after a decade of suffering and sickness, unleashing a worldwide outpouring of grief within the Roman Catholic Church and beyond.

His crimson-robed body lay in state in St. Peter's Basilica for four days, bringing millions of pilgrims streaming through the Vatican in an epic vigil that almost paralyzed Rome.

"We spent 30 hours on a bus to get here and camped out in the cold. Absolutely it was worth it even though, yes, it was cold," said Antonio Miguel Vominguez, 16, from Madrid.

"The Pope was a great leader and I had to be here to pay tribute to him."

Excerpt

[TexKat]

Thousands continue in line up pay their respects to the late Pope John Paul II at the Vatican April 7, 2005. John Paul's funeral on Friday will draw the biggest gathering of the powerful and the humble in modern times. Four kings, five queens, at least 70 presidents and prime ministers and more than 14 leaders of other religions will attend alongside what the Vatican expects will be two million faithful; the largest number of pilgrims to converge on St. Peter's Square in its history. Photo by Polizia Moderna/Reuters

[TexKat]

Pilgrims arrive for the funeral mass of the late Pope John Paul II at St. Peter's square in the Vatican April 8, 2005. Presidents, patriarchs and pilgrims will pay a final farewell to the Pope on Friday at the biggest funeral in modern history for a giant of the 20th century. The Pope's simple wooden coffin will be carried out of St. Peter's Basilica at 0800 GMT, the same church where 26 years ago Karol Wojtyla first emerged as pontiff to stun the world with his vitality and charisma. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

Pilgrims arrive for the funeral mass of the late Pope John Paul II at Saint Peter's Square in the Vatican April 8, 2005. Presidents, patriarchs and pilgrims will pay a final farewell to Pope John Paul on Friday at the biggest funeral in modern history for a giant of the 20th century. The Pope's simple wooden coffin will be carried out of Saint Peter's Basilica at 0800 GMT, the same church where 26 years ago Karol Wojtyla first emerged as pontiff to stun the world with his vitality and charisma. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

A giant screen is installed next to the Coliseum in Rome to broadcast Pope John Paul II's funeral. As the world prepares for the funeral some Europeans have questioned the deluge of ecstatic praise for the pontiff as well as the participation of scores of heads of state(AFP/Menahem Kahana)

[TexKat]

Mourners arrive in St.Peter's Square for the funeral of Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, Friday, April 8, 2005. (AP Photo/Jasper Juinen)

People arrive for the funeral ceremony of Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Friday, April 8, 2005. Royalty, political power brokers and multitudes of the faithful will pay their last respects to Pope at a funeral promising to be one of the largest Western religious gatherings of modern times. (AP Photo/Jasper Juinen)

Pilgrims march in the early morning light as they arrive at the Vatican for the funeral of Pope John Paul II, April 8, 2005. Some 200 heads of state, heads of government and royalty will gather in the Saint Peter's square today to attend the late pontiff's funeral. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

Officials make final preparations in St.Peter's Square in the Vatican, early Friday April 8, 2005, for the funeral of Pope John Paul II.(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Nuns pray along with others during a special mass in memory of late Pope John Paul II at the Missionaries of Charity, the religious order founded by Mother Teresa, in Calcutta, India, Friday, April 8, 2005. On Friday, in the attendance of kings and queens, president and prime ministers and millions of pilgrims, the pope's coffin will be lowered into the ground of the grottos under the Vatican, drawing to a close an eventful 26-year reign. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)

[injin]

absolutely incredible to watch this .....
glad I have lived to see it :^)

[DB]

I can’t imagine Jesus indorsing the extreme opulence I see of the Vatican on TV – but hey, what do I know…

[Northern Yankee]

I can’t imagine Jesus indorsing the extreme opulence I see of the Vatican on TV – but hey, what do I know…

My friend, such an expression of faith, and the world coming together to honor a man who lived the teachings of the faith, will heartily be blessed by God and Jesus.

Don't forget the response Jesus gave to the Disciple when a woman annointed Jesus with perfumed oil, when the same perfume could be sold to and the money given to the poor:

The poor you will always have with you; but you will not always have me. (Matthew 26:11)

Let the faithful celebrate the life of one who came to spread the word of God, like no other Pope in recent memory.

Blessings to you.

[walden]

Headlines like this one crack me up-- the "multitudes" ARE the powerful. Every one of the faithful there chose freely to go, but the so-called "powerful" couldn't make a truly free choice-- they HAD to go, because it was going to be a really big deal, because the "multitudes" would be there, millions of them.

So, who has the power? And, who do they follow?

[olde north church]

even less than you think.

[MadIvan]

Let's not forget the Pope himself left no possessions behind. Like his most illustrious predecessors, his faith was his life.

Regards, Ivan

[AFPhys]

The "extreme opulence" didn't happen overnight.

Were you to live for nearly two thousand years, you would discover that such luxury would pale in comparison to what you could easily amass if you desired to do so.