Pope John Paul II Funeral--Afterthoughts

This morning in Paris we were among the estimated 1 billion people worldwide who participated at the funeral in Rome of Karol Wojtyla. It has been a day that I certainly won't forget.

Channels 1 (TF1) and 2 (FR2) in Francebroadcast the event live. But FR2 did live translations into French of the 3 Scripture readings, while TF1 unfortunately didn't. FR2 seemed to do a better job explaining the significance of what was happening. The readings were excellent texts.

His influence and interest in young people was striking. While some have said that the Catholic Church is all old people, many young people have been marked by the Pope's attention on them. The fervor of many young Catholics shows that one can have strong moral convictions and appeal to young people.

It was said that never had some many heads of state been together at one event as were at his funeral. From the U.S., there were President George W. and Laura Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and former Presidents Bill Clinton, George Bush, and Jimmy Carter.

I liked how they were seated in alphabetical order, rather than by the influence of their country. Therefore George W. Bush ended up being next Jacques and Bernadette Chirac. Hopefully this will help being the forgiveness and reconciliation between the U.S. and France that so represented the work of the Pope. The Presidents of Israel and Syria, political archenemies, shook hands at the funeral.

The funeral also showed the multicultural giftedness of the Pope. It is estimated that he traveled the equivalent of 30x around the world. I noted prayers in Swahili, Tagalog, Polish, German, and Portugese at the ceremony. He was gifted with languages and tried to communicate in the language of whomever he was talking to.

In the course of this week, it has been mentioned that the Philippines has the largest population of Catholics in Europe. It struck me that even though I'm part of the Protestant movement, I have Catholic roots that go back to the 3 of my 4 grandparents who were born in the Philippines and emigrated to the U.S. in the 1920s. Nicole also has Irish Catholic roots from her mother's side. I wonder if there were devout Catholic ancesters of ours 3, 4, or 5 generations back who lived righteously and prayed that their future grandchildren's children or grandchildren would know God?

Cardinal Ratzinger, in his eulogy, mentioned that, as a university student in Poland, the Pope enjoyed literature, theatre, and cinema. Another book I recently saw suggests that this Pope was the most athletic Pope in recent history. He was a well-rounded person who took an interest not just in theology proper, but also in the arts and athletics.

The only parts of the funeral that I was uncomfortable with concerned the veneration of Mary and of the saints. From my interpretation of Scripture, I don't see these practices. However, I do think that Mary and some of our spiritual ancestors should be honored, perhaps more than some of us Protestants do.

While I don't agree with all of the Pope's theology, I agree with much of what he believed and stood for. And he definitely is a good example of a good shepherd or pastor.