Pick a Pope...Any Pope

Photo from USCCB website

So which of these two popes is your favorite? Not a very objective question is it? Each pope serves in a different context with gifts and challenges of those years. I come from the JPII generation. But, the lasting impact from St. John XXIII is significant. He is known for opening wide the Church to the Holy Spirit through the Second Vatican Council. As a post-Vatican II-born-Catholic, one of the greatest fruits I see of the council today is the universal call to holiness. It was thought that priests and nuns were the ones meant to become holy--not so!  Every man, woman and child is called to be holy and we are supposed to help one another get there. My simple summary of Vatican II!

Quotes USCCB (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops) chose to highlight.
Quotes highlighting St. John XXIII's use of humor.
What is your favorite quote?

Pope John Paul II was a cool pope!  He came to Washington, D.C., when I was in 5th grade. I was a student at Visitation Academy and we all went with our bright yellow T-shirts that had "Witamy" on the front--"welcome" in Polish. Needless to say, we were so far back in the crowd and so short we couldn't see much of anything. Someone did hold me up for a glimpse and the pope was as big as an ant in the far distance. He did drive by standing up in the sunroof of the limo. We got a good look as he cruised by. 

I was also at World Youth Day in Toronto. It was amazing how he interacted with the thousands of young people present. One way he did this was responding over the sound system to groups or individuals who called out to him.

Pope John Paul II was the first pope I ever "knew." He became pope when I was in 4th grade which is also when I started attending Visitation Academy and received my First Communion. Did you know the John Paul II Cultural Center is being turned into a shrine in Washington, D.C.?

So who is the best of these popes? Is that a fair question? I have heard comments, but each of these human men with their flaws, like us, has served the Church in the context of their time and with the gifts they brought to it and the ways in which they grew.

So how about Pope Francis? What will we say when we look back at his time? Hopefully, it will be much like how he began:

JP II, we love you!

I first met Pope John Paul II when I was in 4th grade.  I was new to practicing my Catholic faith and going to a Catholic School.  I must admit that the definition of my meeting him is very loose here!  I was at the Eucharistic celebration he had at the National Mall in DC.  We all wore yellow shirts that said "Welcome" in English and Polish.  I was far away at the Mass, but he drove by later on the street standing up through the roof of the limo--yes it was before the days of the popemobile.  He spoke to me (and a mass of humanity) at World Youth Day in Toronto.  As we sat on the airfield that day and JP II refered to his being an old man now, one of the youth yelled out that he wasn't old.  JP II responded to him saying yes he is old but that he loves  the young.  That is so true!  He had a ways of reaching out--as the photo above shows.  He was a man of great principle and love.  He stood firmly in the teaching of the Church with his arms open wide.

I was in Rome in 2004 for the beatification of Sister Rosalie Rendu (a Daughter of Charity following the French Revolution).  By that time Pope John Paul II was very frail and it took great effort for him to have the Mass.  He came nearby in the popemobile.  He had to cancel his audience with us since he wasn't up to it.  In this age of spending all kinds of money to remain young or at least young looking, John Paul the Great taught us how to age with dignity, how to be light for others despite disease and diminishment. 

Ah, yes, the photo at the top is fun, but this one is holinesss in action!  May we each age and endure our infirmities as gracefully as he did!  Here is a link to Pope Bendedict XVI's homily for the beatification: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20110501_beatificazione-gpii_en.html

What were writings, quotes or experiences of John Paul the Great that touched you?