What could be the world's biggest-ever funeral was held in St Peter's Square today as millions crammed the streets around the Vatican and an unprecedented number of monarchs and leaders prayed for the soul of Pope John Paul II. Cypress, zinc and walnut
Lolek - John Paul the Great: Unprecedented Funeral
Pope John Paul II is said to be the most recognized person in the world and the images coming from Sky News and Channel 9 confirmed the observation. Believer and non-believer, rich and poor, world leaders and pilgrims alike come together in the Basilica of St Peter in Rome this morning for the funeral of Pope John Paul II. He stands as one of the greatest popes of all time and to boot he was a Slav. Slavs are good at suffering and they are good at giving the other cheek as we gave the word slave the very meaning ...
`I do not know whether I can express myself in your - in our - Italian language,'' he said. The skeptical crowd began to warm to him. ``If I make mistakes,'' he added, bursting into a smile that was his trademark until his last agony, ``you will correct me.'' The applause turned into a tumult.
This ability to reach out was only just beginning. He traveled tirelessly, to 129 countries on every continent, though China and Russia were the two outstanding places he longed to go but failed because their governments forbade it - which says something of the fearfulness of leaders of both places in their confrontation with an undoubted man of peace. He refused to be confined by protocol or by security minders. Typically, the first thing he did when visiting a country was to kneel and kiss the ground as his mark of respect. Then he would be off reaching out into the crowd anxious to meet and greet and touch and share and sing with them if possible.
Politically, the pope stood for freedom that neither communist societies nor full-blooded capitalism could offer. His encyclical letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (On social concerns) written in 1988 lamented over the ills both of ``liberal capitalism'' and ``Marxist collectivism'' and painted the horrors of a lopsided global world in which intense poverty persisted in poor countries and in pockets of rich nations. Later encyclicals also condemned the ``idolatry of the market'' and the ``quasi-servitude'' of poor nations to rich ones.
• Cypress, zinc and walnut - Text of the homily at pope's funeral Karol Jozef (Lolek) WOJTYLA hanging out in Heaven with God [Google: World mourns for Pope at funeral; Poland Mourns Loss of Pope John Paul II Google: Poles bid Pope emotional farewell - Celebrating 'unbridled love'; Pope dubbed 'priest to last' - Funeral homily celebrates Pope's earlier life
Google: Ratzinger leads world's tribute to Pope John Paul II]
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