Millions of the faithful around the world appealed Friday for the recovery–or the eternal rest–of a man who has symbolized Catholic devotion and the fight against government tyranny for more than a quarter-century.
“This will be his last great voyage for a man who traveled so much,” said Monsignor Jose Perez Riera in Havana. “He is now embarking on the most important trip of his life where God is waiting for him.”
Riera, adjunct secretary to the Cuban Catholic Conference of Bishops, said that all Cubans–not just Catholics–were deeply concerned about the pope’s condition.
Pope John Paul II’s historic 1998 visit to Cuba re-energized the Catholic Church, leading to an upswing in church attendance and baptisms. But the pontiff was unable to ease the restrictions placed on the church by Cuba’s communist government. Catholics have not been allowed to build a church on the island since the 1959 revolution.
Although Catholics are rarely allowed on Cuban media, Cardinal Jaime Ortega made a television appearance Friday to announce the downturn in the pope’s health.
“He came to Cuba as a messenger of truth, of love, of hope,” Ortega said.
In the pontiff’s native Poland, people remembered Pope John Paul II’s role in the fall of communism.
“Fifty percent of the collapse of communism is his doing,” said Lech Walesa, founder of the Solidarity movement that toppled Poland’s communist regime in 1989-90.
Without the pope’s leadership, “communism would have fallen, but much later and in a bloody way,” Walesa said.
At shrines, churches and cathedrals worldwide, masses celebrated the pope. Elsewhere, Protestants, Muslims, Jews and even atheists praised a man whose work for peace and unity made few religious distinctions.
In a tiny cloister on the Lofoten Islands off Norway, three monks were intent in prayer. In Lima, Peru, a marching band offered solemn music as hundreds filed into a special mass.
The first non-Italian pope in centuries, he had a manner that made people around the world think of him as their own. Mexicans chanted during his five visits: “Juan Pablo, brother, you are already Mexican!” Brazilians reacted with delight when Pope John Paul II declared himself carioca, a term for people from Rio de Janeiro.
Even non-Catholics embraced Pope John Paul II, crediting him for ending wars, spreading democracy and combating religious animosity.
“This is a person who dedicated his life to teaching all of us that we have a fundamental obligation to respect one another just because we are the children of God,” said Michael Schudrich, an American who serves as Poland’s chief rabbi.
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In Latin America and Africa, where the number of Catholics has burgeoned in recent years, many expressed hope that the next pope might be one of their own.
“If the pope comes from Africa, we will be celebrating throughout this year,” said Juliana Okuo, 32, in Lagos, Nigeria.
But many said that no matter where he comes from, it will be tough to find another pontiff as beloved as Pope John Paul II.
“I don’t believe in God,” said Victor Hugo Pares, a self-described communist in the Cuban capital, Havana. “But if there is a God, let him send us a pope as good as this one.”