A Blessed First Anniversary

One year ago today, on 1 May 2011, I had the privilege of witnessing and covering the Beatification of John Paul II at St. Peter's Square in Vatican City.  

I have yet to post all the pictures of that once-in-a-lifetime experience, but I nevertheless blogged about it in my Facebook account.

Although I described the confluence of emotions I felt at that time, I didn't mention what actually took place between live reports.

During the Beatification ceremony itself,  I was scheduled to file several phoners and two live reports for our local news programs in the Philippines, one at around 9AM Rome time (3PM Manila time) and another at around Roman noon (6PM Manila time).

Doing the live report and narrating what was happening at the square was no problem; getting from one point to the other was what proved to be the big challenge.

My first live point was situated at the border of Vatican City and Rome,  just outside the steel fence or barrier separating the city-state and Italy.  The other one was on the rooftop of some building at Piazza del Risorgimento, which is just about 300 meters from the square.

I don't know if you were able to watch video or see pictures of the event.  But there was literally a multitude, a sea of people numbering from between 1.5 to 2 million. The people filled the entire square and spilled over to as far as who knows where.

What should have taken a leisurely 5-10  minute walk from the Vatican border to the rooftop location... took more than two hours! (The fact that I wasn't familiar with the numbering scheme for piazzas and vias also did not help, as I got confused looking for the building which housed the satellite provider.)

But by some stroke of luck (or more like through the intercession of Blessed John Paul II)... I made it a good 15 minutes before the live window to Manila opened.

The picture above doesn't lie: I was burned, I was parched, I was exhausted (and I looked bloated, perhaps from exhaustion and jet lag.)

But it was worth it. 

Happy anniversary, Blessed John Paul II!

A Life with Karol

...is the title of the book written by Pope Blessed John Paul II's personal secretary, Don Stanislaus Dziwisz (now the Cardinal Archbishop of Krakow, Poland).

Among the countless biographies and books written about John Paul II, Dziwisz's is perhaps the most intimate (albeit sanitized), owing to the fact that Don Stanislaus collaborated closely with the Holy Father... for 40 years!

Who would know John Paul II better, than the man....

...who saw him through the "Polish Years", as he started his ministry as the Archbishop of Krakow...

...who celebrated with him as he was named a principe ecclesiae, a prince of the church...

...who helped him carry the loneliness & personal burden that came with the papacy & living in a foreign land...

...who held his hand after he was shot by an assassin at St. Peter's Square in 1981...

Stanislaus Cardinal Dziwisz

...and who journeyed with him as he fulfilled his earthly mission?

No doubt and no less than Don Stanislaus Dziwisz.

Dziwisz was not only the pope's private secretary.

In the 40 years they worked together, he became many things to Karol.

He was the pope's apprentice, his confidant and also his friend.

But most importantly, Dziwisz was Karol Wojtyla's son, a dutiful son who saw him through life...and accompanied him through death.

Here was a man who shared his life with another... whose life was no longer his own.

As you probably would have guessed, I got a copy of  A Life with Karol when it made its way to Philippine shelves in 2008.  (I would like to thank my friend Willard Cheng for scouting the bookstores for this 'treasure.')

Like any real life narrative, the book's most poignant part is... it's ending.

Many accounts about what really transpired on the night of John Paul II 's death have been told or have made their way to pages of books, documentary interviews or internet articles.

But none of these will ever have Dziwisz's unique personal perspective.

Of all the people who felt the pain of John Paul II's passing, Don Stanislaus' was perhaps the most pronounced, the most heart-wrenching.

This man, who always stood poker-faced beside the pope wherever the Holy Father went and who never seemed to show any emotion when in public, cried "tears of joy and grief at the same time" as he bid his spiritual father farewell on the night of 2 April 2005.

This bittersweet and melodramatic ending... was what Don Stanislaus had to endure.

This was... his life with Karol.  

Like Don Stanislaus, many of us also have our own personal experience(s) with the Blessed Pope.

My 'close' encounter was seeing him through binoculars, as he presided over the mass that formally closed the 10th World Youth Day in Manila  in 1995.  

Despite the distance, I still felt his holiness, his charisma, his presence.

Five years later, I would have another 'personal experience' with him, this time via correspondence. Like a grandson writing to his grandfather, I asked him for words of encouragement, wisdom and advice during a time of personal struggle.

(Of course,  an official at the General Affairs Section of the Secretariat of State, and not the Holy Father himself, replied to me.   I would later learn, however, through one of his biographies that JPII would keep all letters sent to him in a compartment in his prie dieu or kneeler and would pray for each senders' intentions.)

And who would have thought that sixteen years after the 'first encounter', I would meet him again,  this time at the mass that will proclaim him "Blessed?"

Thanksgiving Mass after JPII's Beatification

What a privilege and blessing it truly was to have witnessed and covered that event!


However, this 'personal relationship' with him, did not stop there.

It still continues to this day.

Each time I find myself in trouble or in dire need, I would run to John Paul II and ask him to intercede for me at the footstool of the Almighty Father's throne.

This is my living experience with the pope of my youth...my pope.

This is my life with Karol.