Unique in History

Last Sunday I had the joy of going to Rome to cover the canonization of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II. It is impossible to put into words what we lived that day in St. Peter’s Square.

In 2011 I went to cover John Paul II’s beatification, and from what I could see this time, almost twice as many people attended. I remember that back then, under Pope Benedict XVI, there was a powerful sense of a vibrant, young Church. I remember being quite comfortable doing my work as a reporter on the terrace set up for journalists from around the world. On that occasion the line to collect our credentials and go through security was a normal one; there were many people, but not as many as I saw now.

To be honest, I felt a bit as if I were in Caracas. From the moment we set foot in Rome we had to stand in long lines for everything. And those of us in those lines were overflowing with joy, because they were about to declare saints a Pope much loved by older people, John XXIII, and a Pope loved by young people, by families, and very especially by Venezuelans: John Paul II.

This time the journalists’ terrace was completely overwhelmed. I think twice as many journalists came as for the beatification, and we were climbing over one another to get the best video shot or photo. Something very particular this time was the interest journalists from other countries showed when they learned I came from Venezuela. We are definitely in the eyes of the world, and it was lovely to receive support and encouragement from many Latin American journalists.

Another thing that especially caught my attention was the great sacrifice made by thousands of very poor, sick or elderly people who attend an event of this size, many of them sleeping in the street and having to walk a long way. That faith and religious fervor lead to truly heroic acts, just to be with these two Popes who gave the whole world a great example of holiness.

The ceremony was very sober and moving. The flowers, brought from Ecuador, were beautiful. We had the great joy of seeing our dear Cardinal Urosa seated immediately behind our dear Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. 160 cardinals attended that unrepeatable Mass, which brought together four Popes at once: Saint John XXIII, Saint John Paul II, Benedict XVI and the “superstar” (as I call him), Pope Francis.

I want to comment on two parts of Pope Francis’s homily that describe the two new saints of the Catholic Church wonderfully. First, he said, in substance, that John XXIII and John Paul II cooperated with the Holy Spirit in restoring and renewing the Church according to her original features, the features the saints have given her down the centuries, and he reminded us that it is precisely the saints who carry the Church forward and make her grow.

Thanks to the example of so many saints throughout the history of our Church (known or unknown), she remains more alive and young than ever, despite the mistakes some of her members may have made. Because those saints follow one model: Jesus Christ. That example of holiness that every baptized person in the Church is called to give is what fascinates so many people who draw near to her, seeking to follow that path of complete happiness.

Pope Francis went on to say that in calling the Second Vatican Council, Saint John XXIII showed a delicate docility to the Holy Spirit; he let himself be led and was for the Church a shepherd, a guide who was himself guided by the Spirit. That, the Pope said, was his great service to the Church, which is why he likes to think of him as the Pope of docility to the Holy Spirit.

And of John Paul II he said that, in his service to the People of God, he was the Pope of the family, and that he himself had once said that this is how he would like to be remembered. Francis stressed this as the Church was walking the synodal path on the family, a journey he said John Paul II surely accompanies and supports from Heaven. He asked the two new saints to intercede for the Church during those two years of the synod, so that she might be docile to the Holy Spirit in her pastoral service to the family, and to teach us not to be scandalized by the wounds of Christ but to enter into the mystery of divine mercy, which always hopes and always forgives because it always loves.

Let us ask our dear Saint John Paul II, who visited our country twice, to bless us from Heaven, to help us strive to be better children of God every day, to bless all Venezuelan families, and to help our country find the path that leads us to live in Truth, Justice, Freedom and Peace for all.