John Allen works for the National Catholic Reporter in the U.S. and is one of the
world’s leading commentators on Catholic affairs. He’s among the thousands of journalists
who have come to Rome to cover the beatification ceremony for Pope John Paul. Susy
Hodges asked him what message this beatification is sending to the Church and the
world?
Allen says "Obviously this beatification is a massive celebration of
the life and legacy of one of the most stunningly successful and wildly popular popes
of all time ... this is a pope who took over the Catholic Church at a moment of doubt
and confusion and what a lot of people perceived as drift for the Church and he gave
it a massive infusion of energy...."
Asked how Americans are reacting to the
beatification, Allen says Pope John Paul "remains massively popular in the U.S."
and goes on to point out the result of a new opinion poll "that finds that 74 percent
of the American public and a stunning 90 percent of American Catholics believe that
John Paul is a worthy candidate for beatification."
During his career covering
the Papacy and church affairs, Allen raccounts how he was literally at a loss for
words when he met Pope John Paul face-to-face for the first time on a papal plane:
"the awesomeness of the occasion overcame me ... and the only thing I could croak
out was "Holy Father, it's nice to meet you" ... and he (John Paul) reached out to
me and patted me on the arms and said..."