Six years ago

This Saturday sees the 6^th anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul the Second that comes amid the continuing preparations for his beatification ceremony on May 1^st.

John Allen works for the National Catholic Reporter and is one of the U.S’s leading commentators on Catholic affairs. He looks back at the figure of the late pope and shares with Susy Hodges his own memories of that extraordinary period in April 2005 when millions of people flocked to Rome to pay their respects to John Paul's body.

Allen says his "indelible impression" of those days was that "tidal wave of humanity that poured through the streets of Rome and through St. Peter's Square" ... and to his mind what was one of the most surprising things "was the enormously prayerful atmosphere in the crowd."

Allen recalls interviewing one American man from Chicago who on learning of the pope's death, had immediately flown to Rome, got a taxi to St. Peter's Square and then "stood in a line for almost 48 hours in order to get those fleeting few seconds in front of the pope's body" and told them "it was the most powerful experience of his life." Allen continues: "I think in microcosym that was the story of those days and it was the kind of ineradicable spiritual connection people felt with this man, which was multiplied by millions of times."
Listen to Susy Hodges' report: