At Holy Family Church in South Pasadena, worshipers arrived Sunday morning to find black crepe draped over the main entrance and a portrait showing Pope John Paul II hugging a small child displayed between the pulpit and altar.
Rev. Niall O’Leary began the 11:15 a.m. mass by noting the special nature of this particular Sunday morning.
“No doubt we are all equally affected by the death of our Pope John Paul II,” he said before starting the mass.
In his homily, he dwelt on the papacy of the late pope and his effect on the church and the world, saying that John Paul II was a constant witness to Christ on Earth, so strong that everyone shared in what the priest called John Paul’s “victory.”
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“He always lived in the presence of God,” O’Leary said.
“Surely he made a greater impact on the world than [on] the church,” O’Leary said, noting the late pope’s historic overtures to Jews and Muslims and his meeting with Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk who attempted to kill him.
The priest spoke of the pope’s lifelong struggle to defend the value of every human life and every stage of life from before birth to death.
“He raised the conscience of who we are,” O’Leary said.
“The Church is not the Vatican, it is the world,” the priest said. “He brought it to the world. . . . He was our father.”