Pope John Paul II

Pope Benedict XVI announced yesterday that Pope John Paul II will be beatified on May 1st. The news has brought joy to millions of Catholics and people of good faith everywhere, who recognized in John Paul a holy man of unique proportion in the 20th century. John Paul was a man of the people, rich and poor, young and old, healthy and ill, Christian and not. He struck a chord in the hearts of all those who search for goodness and compassion in their fellow men. He suffered greatly and shared his suffering with us so that we could see that it makes us more humble, more human, more trustworthy. When he died on the 2nd of April 2005, it was as if a little of each of us had passed away with him.
But, John Paul's legacy lives. The man who inspired Poland to begin its emancipation from Soviet rule and thereby brought down the Soviet Union, the man who rallied millions of young people with the words, "do not be afraid", the man who visited more countries than anyone else in the 20th century, that man is still with us. His photo, with those kindly and wise eyes, is enough to melt our hearts and make us realize just how saintly he was.
The cries of 'santo subito', sainthood now, in St. Peter's Square during the days between his death and funeral made it clear that he had touched something in us that no one else had done. The daily procession of visitors to his tomb in the crypt below the sanctuary of St. Peter's Basilica has made it necessary, finally, to move his tomb up to the portico so that more people can pass by and visit him each day.
We moderns are not used to sanctity. We have not often seen it. We are taught that it belongs to another age, that it died with the unchallenging religious spirit of the Middle Ages. But, those views are wrong and John Paul is the proof. Sanctity exists, not just in John Paul but in every person who strives to do good, to be kind, to reach out to others, to find the human goodness in everyone, even, for John Paul, in the man who shot him.
So, dear friends, don't give up on humanity. Hold fast to your ideals and try, despite everything, to let them work in your lives every day. That is John Paul's legacy and his wish. It is the best and only adequate tribute we can pay him.