Personal Impressions

I was so surprised, despite his long illness, when Reuters errantly reported news on Friday that he had died for it seemed this pope always survives close calls. But so it soon was, with the wonderful homage playing out on every television screen in the world. What a longing I felt to be there in St. Peter's square on Friday night, a place that is more like home than home.

The first time I was personally influenced by him I think was in reading his book Crossing the Threshold of Hope around 1994. I remember thinking, "my gosh, he's not like other popes is he?". We tend to forget now how odd it sounded to hear that the "pope has a book out". My impression of popes (I'm not old enough to remember John XXIII) was that they were formal and distant and wrote only dense encyclicals, not popular works like this. Taking questions from just an average person seemed a very democratic thing to do and was obviously appealing to me, an average person living in a democracy. It seemed to show a liveliness, an openness and a willingness to take chances that was very appealing. And of course the substance of the book was greatly educational for me and prepared the ground for my reversion. Many of the questions the interviewer asked I had always wondered about.

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Billy Graham was one of my favorite evangelists during the 70s. I loved his books and would tune in to his revivals on television. And so to hear him praising the Pope on Larry King warms my heart because it connects two figures who have influenced me. But the connections go beyond the personal - they both have lived long, good lives and have had to undergo suffering at the end. They both were telegenic and charismatic but firm with regard to standards. And both were criticized for reaching out too far ecumenically. I've listened to radio shows highly critical of Billy Graham for his closeness to the Pope and for suggesting that Muslims and others who don't profess Christ might be saved. And the Pope has been criticized for some of his outreach by some Traditionalists. The Pope took his hand and called him a brother at their first meeting and that is an apt characterization.

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I'm really surprised by the secular media coverage, which was as respectful as it was extensive. It began to look like EWTN sometimes. Being able to see the viewing of the Pope was special. His death becomes manifest when you see him lying down, hands clasping a rosary and head propped up by pillows. I wonder if coverage will be extensive for a pope's death a fifty years from now. My hunch is no, but a Church the size of over a billion is hard to ignore.