World mourns death of ‘people’s Pope’

KRISTINE JENNINGS GUEST WRITER KRISJ613@YAHOO COM

Everyone has been telling me what an experience it must have been being in Rome when they announced the Pope’s death, but I was not in Rome when I heard the announcement, ironically. I was on a bus heading towards my hotel in Perugia, Italy. While on the bus, another Cabrini student, John Pino, received a phone call from a friend informing him that Pope John Paul II had passed away.

In Perugia, I was surprised because we did not hear any bells ringing to signal the death of the Pope. Meanwhile, Cabrini students Mary Romanello and Gina Comet were in Rome and able to hear the Vatican bells from the apartment.

When we arrived at our hotel, the TVwas on, showing live footage of St. Peter ’s and the thousands of people that had already gathered to remember the Pope. The owner of the hotel and her mother both sat intently watching the TV and aided in translation. They both explained to us that over the next few days, under strict Vatican regulations, the Pope would be laid out for the public to view and then would be buried within a certain amount of days after his death.

The woman explained that about two weeks after the death of the Pope, the cardinals would all gather in the Sistine Chapel to form a Conclave, where they elect a new pope. The mother of the hotel owner, an older Italian woman, spoke to us in her native language and told us that it was a sad time for Catholics and even non-Catholics now because they had just lost an extraordinary man and that the next pope would have to work extremely hard to fill the void left by John Paul II.

After leaving our hotel, we went to a local church to join the other townspeople for a midnight vigil. That night I felt as if I did not walk into that church as an American, but as a Catholic person mourning the loss of a great person alongside other Catholics. The next day, we watched TV with the hotel owner and she again translated the news for us. She explained to us that Italy would now be in a state of mourning for the next few days. She also told us how she fears that the successor might not be as open-minded as John Paul II.

When I arrived back in Rome late Sunday night, all the flags that had been placed at half-mast out of respect for the Pope immediately moved me. In Monteverde, where I live, the death of the Pope did not cause much change in the daily routine of the people.

However, the area by the Vatican is hectic and chaotic. The city of Rome and the Vatican have prepared themselves for about two million people to come here to pay their last respects to the Pope.

On Monday, the Pope was moved from his Apostolic Palace through St. Peter’s to the Basilica where he was laid out for the public to view him. I left my apartment at about 3:45 p.m. and arrived at Via del Conciliazione, which is the street leading to the Vatican, at about 4:15 p.m.

We had to walk all the way to the beginning of Via del Conciliazione to join the others in line and we were instantly sucked into the throng of people waiting to view the Pope. Since they expected so many people to come to visit, the entrance to St. Peter’s has been blocked off in certain areas so that everyone must enter from the same direction.

We moved along pretty quickly when we first entered the line, but only about two blocks up, we were forced to stop. Waiting in the intense heat of the sun, we became very close with the people surrounding us because there were so many people there and so little space.

As the sun started setting, we began inching our way forward. Every little move forward meant cheers from the crowd. People would impatiently shove if you were taking too long to move.