Pope Benedict calls John Paul II a "Rock" in the faith during a Mass to mark 1^st death Anniversary

(April 04, 2006) : At a Mass to mark the first anniversary of the death of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI presented Pope John Paul II as "as a 'rock' in the faith." Addressing a huge crowd of people St. Peter's Square during an evening Mass April 3, Pope Benedict in his homily, shared memories of his 23 years as a close collaborator of the Polish Pontiff. Participating at Mass were numerous cardinals, among them Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow, who had been the longtime secretary of Pope John Paul II. "Whoever had the possibility to see him up close," said Pope Benedict "could almost touch with his hand that pure and solid faith that, though it impressed the circle of his collaborators, did not fail to spread, during his long pontificate, his beneficial influence throughout the Church, with a crescendo that reached its summit in the last months and days of his life." Pope Benedict called Pope John Paul II's "a convinced, strong, authentic faith, free of fears and compromises, which affected the hearts of many people, thanks also to the numerous apostolic pilgrimages to all parts of the world, and especially thanks to that last 'journey,' his agony and death." The Polish Pope died April 2, 2005. The Mass was attended by tens of thousands of pilgrims, many of them Polish. "The deceased Pontiff, whom God endowed with many human and spiritual gifts, passing through the crucible of apostolic fatigues and illness, appeared ever more as a 'rock' in the faith," affirmed Pope Benedict . The German Pope concluded inviting pilgrims to look ahead. “We hear resonate in spirit his repeated invitations to go forward without fear on the path of fidelity to the Gospel, to be heralds and witnesses of Christ in the third millennium" he said.