OMG! Touched by Blessed JP II

He’s now called Blessed John Paul II, and the late Pope’s beatification yesterday gave us Filipino Catholics one more ally in heaven. Karol Jozef Wojtyla, erstwhile archbishop of Krakow in Poland, became Pope John Paul II on Oct. 16, 1978. JP II is the now the latest modern-day “Blessed” leader of the Christian world.

More than five years after his death, the beatification of Pope JP II makes him now a step closer to sainthood. After a lingering illness, the Pontiff died on April 2, 2005 at the age of 84.

After his death, many people came forward with stories of “miracles” they believed were made possible through the intercession of the late Pontiff, now Blessed JP II. Even when he was still alive, the beloved Pope JP II had been attributed for life-changing “miracles” that touched many people who had close encounters with him.

During the 27 years of his papacy, he came twice to the Philippines that boasts of being the biggest Catholic nation in Asia. With Catholics comprising more than 85 percent of the population, the late Pope likened Filipinos to “evangelists” of the world as he noted that many of our Catholic people work and live abroad. This papal honor was expressed during his second visit to Manila in 1995 when he led the celebration of World Youth Day held in our country.

Dubbed as the “global Pope,” he first came to Manila in 1981 as part of his many travels across the world as “the Great Shepherd of Christ.” But in both occasions, I never had the chance to see him up close.

It was not in my wildest imagination that I would have the rare opportunity to finally meet the highest leader of the Christian world up close and personal. This great chance came when I was sent by The STAR to cover the first state visit of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the Vatican in October 2003. It was my first time ever to set foot in Rome. The closest thing I got to the Holy See was watching on TV the live satellite telecast of the Pope’s message at the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica every Holy Week and on Christmas day.

It was my sheer luck to have my name picked to be one of the three “media pool” reporters to cover the President’s audience with the Pope at the Vatican library. In hindsight, it must be with the unseen “blessings” I received from the Pope that my name got to be picked from a long list of Malacañang reporters for the private media delegation in the Vatican visit. The two other slots were reserved for government-run TV and an in-house reporter from the Office of the Press Secretary.

The Vatican visit was the second leg of the presidential trip that first took us to New York for the address of Mrs. Arroyo before the United Nations’ General Assembly. When our plane landed at the Rome airport, we were told that we must immediately get into our vehicles that would take us ahead to the Vatican. This was for our media briefing and to pre-position ourselves before the arrival of the President’s party in the Vatican.

We did not have enough time to even go to our hotel in Rome to wash up and change the clothes that we wore from the last official event at the UN. The problem was we were all dressed in smart casual attire and we must change to the prescribed all black and ankle-length skirt for women. Left with no other option, we changed our clothes right inside the mini-van assigned to the media. We took turns changing our clothes while the van was moving from the airport to the Vatican. I didn’t know how we did it but we did it in a huff.

Upon arrival at the courtyard, a nun came to welcome us, the “media pool,” and led us to a holding room for the briefing on how the papal audience would be conducted. She told us we were very fortunate that Pope John Paul II had recovered and was already up and about after being very ill for days prior to our visit. Other than the dress code, there were no other restrictions in our coverage of the papal audience, except that we must observe complete silence at all times.

The sister told us that if we pray hard for the Pope’s health, he might have further strength to extend his audience to include us, the media delegation. After the turn of the President’s party, the sister told us that the Pontiff might be still up to it, he would likely spend time with us, too, though briefly.

So it was with so much awe that we were led inside the high-ceilinged halls of the Vatican and finally at the Pope’s Library to wait at one corner of the wide hall for the event. The whole place was so quiet that the sound of a pin drop would echo across the hall.

The silence was only broken by the chatter of the young toddler then, Mikaela Arroyo, the President’s first granddaughter, as they entered the hall. The First Family came in led by the President and her husband, First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo who carried Mikaela, followed by their children Luli, Mikey and his wife Angela, Dato and his wife who was then pregnant, and then Agriculture Secretary Luisito Lorenzo and his wife who represented her Cabinet being members of the Couples for Christ.

From where we stood at the corner, there was blinding light when the door was opened. There was some kind of aura coming from the Pope’s direction when he was wheeled on an elevated chair by men in black frocks.

The Pope graciously greeted his visitors with his traditional blessings as each one of them kissed his holy ring. They were seated far from where we stood so we could hardly hear the President’s conversations with the Pope.

I did not take note how long was the Pope’s audience with Mrs. Arroyo. Perhaps, because I was in deep prayer that the Pope would also spend time with us ordinary mortals. I got to realize the courtesy call was over when the sister told us that the Pope would also want to see us.

I could not recall now what happened next, except vividly remembering how tears flowed freely from my eyes when I got to kiss the Pope’s ring and be blessed by him. Oh my God! (OMG), words could not describe the moment I was touched by a holy man now called Blessed John Paul II.