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John Paul II died at 9.37 pm on Saturday 2 April 2005: a year later, and at the very same time, Benedict XVI will address the faithful in St. Peter’s Square in conclusion of the vigil of prayer and commemoration of the diocese of Rome. Similar vigils will be held in all the dioceses of Europe and the world, united in their memory of John Paul II. After the solemn creation of the new cardinals in St. Peter’s Square on 24 March, I visited with the Slovene bishops, for the first time, the tomb of John Paul II. It was a holy moment. In prayer all my meetings with the late-lamented pope spontaneously came back to me: the two visits to Slovenia in 1996 and in 1999, and then the three personal meetings during the period of my studies in Rome. I was reminded of his words to the youth of the country during his first visit to Slovenia, at Postojna: “The Pope loves you!” and “courage!”. I will never forget his witness of Christ Jesus, the crucified and risen Lord. John Paul’s illness and his sufferings were a silent catechesis for the whole world. Those who accompanied him in his last hours, in his journey towards the Heavenly Father, understood that only a deep faith together with holiness can change the world. A year ago, during his illness, the Church in Slovenia gathered in prayer. Journalists and the secular mass media began to take an interest not only in the Pope but also in the Church in Slovenia. Never until then had we received so many profound questions about the meaning of life, about the mission of the Church and what it really does. What does it mean to believe in the Gospel and base one’s life on it? How in practice can faith be lived? It was a period of popular mission in which the Church had the chance to proclaim the Gospel to those who had not heard of Jesus. People’s hearts were opened!”. Andrej Saie Spokesman of the Bishops’ Conference of Slovenia As the date approaches of the first anniversary of his death, so many memories of John Paul II recur to my mind. His life, his work and his teachings are recalled by the faithful; his words are cited in speeches, homilies and in catechesis. It’s not a question of substituting past memories with other new ones, but of being conscious of having two Popes, one in the Vatican and the other in Heaven, one to listen, the other to pray to. It’s an intuition of popular piety, in no way mediated by particular theological re-elaborations: an intuition that rests in the hearts of the faithful who knew and loved John Paul II. A Pope in the Vatican, a Pope in heaven to be recalled in our prayers. What’s more, the contents of John Paul II’s messages and apostolate are alive. This is testified by the many institutions and monuments that bear his name, such as the modern buildings of the diocesan Curia at Banská Bystrica. It is testified by the Slovak saints and blessed, raised to the altar by John Paul II. It is testified by his three visits, the last in 2003, to the symbolic places of Slovak spirituality. And it is just on the large esplanade where he celebrated his last mass in the Slovak capital, Bratislava, at the centre of the large Petralka quarter, that John Paul II Square is now being built. Just here, on 2 April, we will commemorate “our pope” with a cultural and spiritual event during which a new statue to his memory will be inaugurated and a mass celebrated with the participation of the Slovak episcopate as a whole. Marian Gavenda Spokesman of the Bishops’ Conference of Slovakia
