All things blessed

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..."

Listen to his interview with Susy Hodges: