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