When Pope Benedict
beatified John Paul II ...
May 1, 2012
A year ago, Benedict XVI beatified his beloved predecessor, John Paul II, in front a vast sea of pilgrims - more than a million - who had gathered in St. Peter's square and spilled into the nearby streets.
It was a prayerful moment but also a joyful one and pilgrims from Karol Wojtyla's native Poland attended in great numbers.
Over a dozen heads of State were present alongside the cardinals, bishops , priests and men and women religious who were seated up close to the altar.
Only six years had gone by since the death of John Paul II, and in his homily on this occasion the Pope mentioned how he had wanted the cause of beatification to move forward with reasonable haste: " And now the longed-for day has come,it came quickly because this is what was pleasing to the Lord: John Paul II is blessed..."
Benedict XVI pointed to how this ceremony was timed to coincide with the Second Sunday of Easter which the late Polish Pontiff had 5/2/12
5/2/12
P.S. CNA finally did file a JP2 story at yesterday afternoon reporting on the April 30 prayer vigil....
John Paul II's beatification
remembered one year later
By David Kerr
Vatican City, May 1, 2012 (CNA/EWTN News) - Blessed Pope John Paul II was remembered one year after his beatification with a candlelight prayer vigil at the site where he hosted World Youth Day 2000 in Rome on April 30.
“What was the secret of John Paul II? I think I can say, the unity between faith and life. He lived for God and for man to bring to God, because he was happy,” said Cardinal Agostino Vallini, Vicar General of the Diocese of Rome at the vigil.
He addressed thousands of young people from the Diocese of Rome and beyond at Tor Vergata on the eastern outskirts of Rome. It was here that Pope John Paul II had told millions of young pilgrims to World Youth Day 2000 that “in saying ‘yes’ to Christ, you say ‘yes’ to all your noblest ideals.”
Last night the World Youth Day cross returned to Tor Vergata along with many of those who were in attendance 12 years. This time, however, they arrived with their husbands, wives and children to thank Blessed John Paul for his inspirational witness.
“Twelve years ago I was here, under this same Cross, on stage with the choir of the diocese of Rome,” said one female pilgrim to Vatican Radio.
“Today, after 12 years, I am here to thank him again, because I’m here with my family, my husband, my son who is called John Paul Emmanuel.”
“I am getting goose bumps just at the thought of being here,” said another veteran of World Youth Day 2000 who described that encounter with Pope John Paul as “a moment that changed my life, which matured my faith, which made me really see what the faith truly was and that the faith could be the center of my life.”
In his homily Cardinal Vallini recalled Pope John Paul II’s message of hope and urged the young and not-so-young people in attendance to continue to continue to be “generous” with God.
It was on May 1, 2011, that Pope Benedict XVI beatified his predecessor six years after Pope John Paul’s death. The beatification ceremony in Rome was attended by over 1.5 million pilgrims. Included in their number was Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, the French nun whose miraculous cure from Parkinson's Disease paved the way for the beatification.
Just to bring back the flavor of that very special day, here is the photo summary I attempted of it the day after...
John Paul II's Beatification Day yesterday, May 1, 2011, was a truly historic event only likely to be equalled by what will almost certainly be the next big moment in the great Pope's story, his canonization...
Very appropriately, the event has left the mass media - including the normally logorrheic commentariat - relatively dumbstruck. The ceremony said it all, and what needed to be said in words was expressed so magnificently, and with his usual simplicity, by Benedict XVI in his homily. All other words are superfluous, but not the photos...
As I have been unable to do anything more than sort the available newsphotos, here is an impromptu montage - snapshots from the Powerpoint pages on which I sort and group the photos for eventual formatting and posting - until I can post them in the regular manner...
PHOTO SUMMARY:
BEATIFICATION DAY
The mini-slideshow from Vatican Radio online with highlights of the day, and an AP fact sheet on John Paul II.
Establishing shots of St. Peter's Square. In the top photo, I inserted an inset of the Mass that took place outside Cracow.
Photos I used for the Beatification Day banner.
Pope Benedict arrives for the ceremony.
As usual, too few photos of the Mass. The bottom panel shows the presentation of the Blessed's relic to Benedict XVI
by Suor Tobiana, John Paul II's chief housekeeper at the Vatican, and Sr. Marie Simon Pierre, the late Pope's 'miracle nun'.
Panel shows a videocap showing the Pope giving his homily, on a split screen with a JP2 poster, and photos from the End of the Mass,
Pope Benedict in prayer before the casket of John Paul II in St. Peter's Basilica; the other prelates at the Mass followed.
The Pope met the President of Poland and his wife, and President Napolitano of Italy, as well as other visiting heads of state,
before the Basilica was opened to the public to pray at the casket.
